


Seeing Double

by somethingvaguetodo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Castle AU, Drama, F/M, Fluff, General, Humor, Mystery, police procedural type story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 22:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10954152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingvaguetodo/pseuds/somethingvaguetodo
Summary: Ginny Weasley became an Auror after a traumatic death made her determined to see no killer stay free. Harry Potter saved the wizarding world, and is now enjoying his life as Witch Weekly's Number One Bachelor, no longer worrying about Death Eaters and killers. But when a man who looks just like the 'Chosen One' himself is found murdered, the two must work together to find the killer before it is too late.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This story is inspired and heavily influenced by the TV show Castle, which is a police procedural crime drama about homicide detectives (it is so much more than that but I won't go into detail, but I HIGHLY recommend). Anything you may recognize definitely does not belong to me! Enjoy! :)

Although the flash of green light illuminated the entire alleyway, there was no one there to see it. That is, except for the man who caused it to occur, and the unfortunate man on the receiving end. The cloaked figure who had cast the spell quickly stowed his wand in his pocket and approached the man lying spread-eagle on the ground. The night remained silent and undisturbed as the man knelt down beside the body. Reaching into his robes, the man produced a small sliver knife that reflected the bright moonlight shining over the hidden London street. Smiling slightly, he lined up the knife above the dead man’s forehead and carefully carved a jagged line in the shape of a vivid lightning bolt.

~~~

Auror Ginny Weasley stepped past the crowds gathered around the official Ministry of Magic barricade and through the protective ward into the crime scene. It seemed crazy to her that people actually liked gathering around the scene of a murder; that morbid curiosity was a widespread fascination. Ginny hated it – hated every crime scene, every dead body, every family torn apart by a senseless loss. But then again, that was why she became an Auror in the first place.

As she approached the crime scene, Ginny spotted members of her team examining the area, and she could just get a glimpse of the body lying on the ground. An attack in Diagon Alley would make the headlines of the _Daily Prophet_ ; after all, it is one of the busiest places in magical London. Hopefully it wouldn’t become too much of a problem for the community – everything had been nice and calm after the Aurors finished rounding up the last of the Death Eaters in the wake of the war. Panic and fear of random attacks was the last thing that Ginny wanted to grip the wizarding world now.

The man lying spread-eagle on the ground appeared young, probably in his early thirties. His dark hair was in disarray, and watery green eyes stared unseeing up at the sky. He was wearing a set of pale grey work robes. Ginny took in all of these details quickly, for it was the distinctive feature on his forehead that required her immediate attention. The roughly carved lightning bolt stood out on the dead man's face, an instantly recognizable symbol to anyone in the wizarding world.

“That's not actually him, is it?” The voice of Ginny's fellow Auror, Seamus Finnigan came from behind her. She knew exactly what he was talking about.

“No, his eyes are wrong,” Ginny responded, not taking her eyes off the wound.

“‘Wrong’? You make it sound like it’s a look-a-like contest,” Seamus laughed loudly at his own joke. Ginny did not.

“Perhaps it is meant to be a look-a-like; after all, the resemblance is hardly passing,” Ginny retorted, already staring to unravel theories in her mind. 

Seamus shrugged, and looked around the crime scene for evidence, but quickly became distracted. The sandy haired Irishman then called out to his partner, Aaron Mathews, who was just passing through the wards. “Oi, Mathews, you gotta see this one.” Aaron was a recent addition to the Auror team, even though he was almost ten years older than Ginny. As a muggle-born American, Aaron had previously worked with the US Magical Law Enforcement before transferring to England, bringing along his wife Jessica.

“Is that who I think that is?” Aaron asked when he arrived next to Ginny and Seamus. His heavy New York accent seemed out of place in Diagonal Alley.

“Nah. According to Weasley, our resident Potter expert, this one has the ‘wrong’ eyes,” Seamus grinned at Ginny, waiting for her response.

“Plus, he doesn't have glasses,” Ginny added, ignoring the insult.

“So someone found someone who looks like Harry Potter and killed him, added a lightning bolt scar, but forgot the glasses?” Aaron asked.

“I don’t have all of the answers yet, I was just pointing that out,” Ginny responded. She turned to face Hermione Granger, her best friend and soon to be sister-in-law, who worked as the Medical Examiner for the Auror office. Hermione was wearing a smart set of work robes in a deep burgundy with her normally bushy brown hair pulled back into a bun. She took her job very seriously – as the top of her class at Hogwarts, Hermione could not choose between becoming a Healer or working in Law Enforcement, so she combined the two and created the ME job herself. “Hermione, what do you think?”

“Well, it was definitely the _Avada Kedavra_ ,” Hermione began, consulting the parchment she had been notating as she examined the body. “There are no other signs of a physical struggle, and no magical residue of a duel. It looks like the killer attacked unexpectedly, and the Killing Curse was the only curse cast on him at the time of the murder.”

“And the scar?” Ginny asked, for that was what bothered her the most.

“It appears to have been made post-mortem, and carved physically, not by magic. Probably by a small paring knife, the kind you use to cut potions ingredients. Other than the lightning bolt, I did not see any other signs of injury on the body.”

“When was he killed?” asked Aaron.

“Diagnostic spell puts the time of death between 11 pm last night and 1 o’clock this morning. I can try to get a more specific time, but I can’t guarantee anything.” Hermione shrank her parchment and pocketed it. “I need to do more complex spells back at the lab before I find out anything more, but there is nothing that is standing out right now.”

“Do we have an ID?” Ginny asked, turning to Seamus.

“Let’s get one, shall we?” Seamus summoned the victim’s wand from his pocket and left it hovering in front of him. He tapped the wand with his own, and then touched the tip of his wand to a blank piece of parchment, where freshly inked words immediately appeared.

“His name is Duncan Clarke. Worked as an owl trainer for the Post Office here in Diagon Alley. Address listed in Sutton, muggle side,” Seamus read off the piece of parchment and then turned to face Ginny and Aaron. “So Weasley, what’s next?” Ginny sighed. While she was just another member of the team – and younger than both of them – Aaron and Seamus tended to look to her for instructions as if she was their leader.

“Will you go to the address, see if anyone else lives there? If not, find the next of kin. See if there was anything strange going on with him as of late. We don’t know if Clarke was targeted for a reason besides his resemblance to Harry Potter. Mathews, will you talk to the crowd that gathered outside and to all of the business owners and employees on the block? Maybe one of them saw something last night. Hold off on going to the Post Office, we can check with them later to see if there was any problem that was work related.”

“And what are you going to do?” Aaron asked Ginny.

“If he was targeted for his looks, then maybe the original can shed some light on why. I am going to speak with ‘The Chosen One’ himself.”

~~~

Smoke filled the air as a bright flash of light temporarily blinded Harry Potter. Coughing and waving his free hand through the air to clear the acrid smoke, Harry released the hand of the Chief Healer at St. Mungo’s, a portly man with a large grey moustache. The photographer from the _Daily Prophet_ emerged from underneath the black curtain, and signaled that the picture was good. On that note, Harry bid goodbye to the Chief Healer and strode quickly toward the bar, where Remus Lupin sat nursing a drink. Many people stopped him along the way, mostly young women, asking for autographs. Harry smiled graciously to each person, knowing that his status as “Savior of the Wizarding World” had its merits. An attractive young blonde witch – who was wearing a set of very low cut silver robes – slipped something in his pocket as he signed his name with a flourish on her chosen location – the flesh right above her heart.

“I look forward to seeing you later,” she murmured in a low voice as she turned and walked away from him. Harry reached into his pocket and removed a slip of parchment on which was written the witch’s name and address. He smiled, this was not the first time a young woman had done something like this, and this was not the first time he considered following up on the offer.

Pocketing his self-inking quill and holding on to the slip of parchment, Harry finally sat down on the stool next to Remus.

“Having fun?” Remus asked, turning to look at Harry, who grinned widely. Remus looked tired and worn out, most likely because of the full moon the night before.

“You know how much I love events like these,” Harry said, turning around in his seat to survey the room. It was midday, and Harry and Remus were at a charity luncheon and party for St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries as part of a month long celebration for the hospital’s 400th anniversary. When Harry was appointed to the Board of Trustees for his charitable donations, events like this became the norm. Not that he wasn’t invited to functions and parties all the time, after all he was Harry Potter – The Chosen One, The Boy Who Lived, The Savior of the Wizarding World, and his personal favorite, Witch Weekly’s Number One Bachelor eight years running. “It’s so much fun to meet new people,” he continued, making eye contact with the blonde from across the room.

“Meet new people? Now who are you meeting – oh, another one?” Remus glanced at the piece of parchment that Harry still clutched in his hand and scanned the crowd himself, trying to find exactly who it belonged to this time. “I would have thought you would be tired of that by now.”

“No, I doubt it will ever get old,” Harry responded with a sigh, “although it would be refreshing to hear something new sometimes.”

“Mr. Potter?”

Harry swiveled around to face the voice, pulling his quill from his pocket as he did. He smiled at the woman standing before him – a witch about his age with vivid red hair and, in his opinion, a perfect figure accentuated by her royal blue robes. What looked like the Ministry of Magic logo was imprinted on a breast pocket, which made her attire seem inappropriate for a charity function, but Harry did not care. Hopefully, she would have a name and address for him too. “Where do you want it?” he asked, ready to sign his autograph.

“Mr. Potter, I’m Auror Ginny Weasley, Ministry of Magic,” she showed him an identification card. “I need to speak with you about a murder that occurred last night.”

Harry stared at her in slack-jawed shock. Remus reached around him and pulled the quill out of his hand. “That’s something new.”


	2. Chapter 2

Ginny was pretending to read from the file lying on the table in front of her. Instead she was observing the man sitting in the chair across the table from her. She had seen him in person once before: at the Battle of Hogwarts at the end of the war, but that was over nine years ago. Harry Potter looked just like he did in all the pictures in the newspapers; if possible, he looked even better in person. It was also immediately clear that whoever killed Clarke found someone who really did resemble the famous wizard. Harry's jet-black hair was in a state of disarray, and his startlingly green eyes were staring back at her through the lenses of his glasses. Ginny realized that she was right, the victim's eyes were wrong, she had never seen anyone's eyes that were that bright green. While Ginny was in her uniform, Harry was wearing elegant, and very expensive, black robes that were appropriate for the charity event she had pulled him out of but not for the interrogation room they were currently in.

In short, he looked good. Too good. And Ginny did not appreciate the smirk on his face as he gave her the once-over similar to the appraisal she had just conducted of him. She felt a jolt of satisfaction when he cowed slightly at the glare she sent him.

“Well, I'll tell you something Mr. Potter, your file certainly makes for an interesting read,” she began, finally looking straight into Harry's eyes. While this was not meant to be an interrogation, Ginny preferred to start their conversation by proving that she held the upper hand. “I see a complaint from Gringotts of theft and an interesting incident where your aunt seems to have inflated are among the highlights. And of course, every time, charges were dropped.”

“What can I say, Minister Shacklebolt is a fan,” Harry said with a wink. “But really, most of those charges were unfounded and a result of Voldemort's regime during the war. That's why they were all dropped.” He shot her a winning smile.

“But it seems a team was sent out to deflate and obliviate your aunt, so that couldn't have been ‘unfounded’,” she responded with a smirk of her own, happy to have caught him on a technicality.

“I was young, it was accidental magic. And I never liked her anyway.” Something about the way he said it made her think it was less of an accident than it was written off as. “And if it makes you feel any better, I would be happy to let you punish me.”

Ginny sent him a glare that usually had all of her brothers cowering in the corner. Harry just smiled and winked again. Ginny sighed.

“Moving on from your criminal record... Have you ever heard the name Duncan Clarke?” This question finally prompted Harry to have a new expression. He seemed to be concentrating hard before answering.

“It doesn't ring a bell. I do meet an awful lot of people everyday. Part of the job. What does he look like? I'm better with faces anyway; I know already I won't be forgetting yours,” Harry finished with a smile. Ginny bristled; some witches probably found him charming, she thought he was simply smarmy. She chose to ignore his paltry attempts at flirting.

“Actually, he looks like you,” she stated, summoning a crime scene picture and sliding it across the table for him to see. Harry studied the photo with a frown.

“No, I don't believe I know him, although I can see how he looks like me, even though he isn’t nearly as handsome - hold it, is he dead?” Before Ginny had a chance to answer, Harry continued. “Yes, definitely, I recognize that look. He is dead. You said there was a murder right? Do you know who did....” He trailed of suddenly and brought the picture closer to his face. He brought it back down with a smack. “Is that _my_ scar on his forehead?”

He brought his hand up to touch his forehead almost instinctively, and Ginny's eyes followed the movement. The scar stood out on Harry's forehead even though it was just a muted red line. While Harry Potter's entire image had become iconic in the wizarding world, this was by far his most famous feature. Despite what the papers said and how he had been acting during the entire interview, he did not seem to wear it proudly. Instead, the thought of the scar seemed to bring about a much more serious side of the man than she had yet to see.

“Yes, he is dead. He was murdered last night, and no, we do not know who did it. As for the scar, it seems the killer carved it into Clarke's head after he died.”

“Do you think this is a threat against me, Auror Weasley? Could it be a leftover Death Eater?” His grim tone surprised her and he seemed to be changing into the young man who spent most of his life devoted to destroying a mass murderer, not a philandering bachelor. Harry seemed genuinely concerned, but it was possible that the concern was only for his own welfare.

“It seems to be an obvious reference to you, Mr. Potter, but remember we rounded up all known Death Eaters in the wake of the war. We cannot say yet whether or not this is a threat against you, or that it has any connection to Voldemort.” Harry's head snapped to attention at that, and he stared at Ginny in shock. "What?"

“It's just, you said ‘Voldemort’. Most people are too afraid of him to do that,” Harry said, impressed.

“I was never afraid of Voldemort, I hated him. And he never was Voldemort to me, only Tom Riddle.” At this, Harry seemed even more puzzled.

“Most people don't even know that was his real name,” he stared. “And it seems personal to you...” he trailed off, waiting for Ginny to respond.

Ginny sat watching him for a few moments. She hadn’t meant to say that, it had just slipped out. Most people did not know about her connection with Tom Riddle, and she did not think that, of all people, she would be sharing it with Harry Potter. Instead, she became defensive, “That doesn’t matter now. We just wanted to speak with you about the murder, to see if you knew anything.”

Harry looked like he wanted to push the last topic, but decided not to. “No, I haven’t seen this man before,” he waved the picture around.

“Have you received any threats recently?”

“I do receive an awful lot of fan mail, but I hardly have the time to read it all. There could be something in there.”

“We will need you to hand all of that over to the Auror Office for examination. Do you even check the mail for curses?” Ginny asked, exasperated at his tone.

“Of course, the mail is sorted and checked before it even gets to me, but I suppose no one reads it and looks for threats. Maybe I could hire someone to do that.” Harry seemed to be considering this as a choice, but an idea was sparked in Ginny’s mind.

“Maybe there was something in your mail, and Clarke found out. After all, he did work for the Post Office, maybe he was one of the wizards who sorted your mail.” Ginny was running theories through her mind, but Harry just shook his head.

“What do you think, he uncovered some mastermind plan to kill me and when they murdered him, they made sure put the scar there so that we could figure it out easier? No, I doubt it,” he stated all of this so decisively that Ginny began to get annoyed. This was her job, and he had no place telling her how to do it, or that her ideas were wrong.

It was time to wrap this conversation up, or else Mr. Potter would be walking out covered in boils. “Well, thank you for coming in. If you could bring all of the mail you received in by tomorrow, that would be great.” Ginny stood and extended her hand for him to shake. Harry stood slowly and looked at her.

“That’s it? I don’t get to help out?” He seemed confused, as if the Aurors needed his input in order to solve a murder.

“No, I think that we are fully qualified to figure this out our own, thank you,” Ginny responded, reaching forward and grabbing his hand to shake it. “Someone will let you know if we find any threat against you, or if we think you will be in any danger because of this murder.”

“Right,” said Harry, but he seemed to be thinking about something else already.

“It was nice meeting you, Mr. Potter,” Ginny said, trying to remain diplomatic. Harry smiled and squeezed her hand before releasing it.

“The pleasure was all mine, Auror Weasley. And please, call me Harry.”

~~~

Harry left the Auror Office and headed toward the lifts at the end of the hall. At the last moment, he changed his mind and veered off down a side passageway to the stairs, where he climbed up to Level 1. Walking down the corridor, Harry knocked on the door marked Minister of Magic. An “Enter” came from inside, and Harry opened the door and stuck his head in.

“Hello, Kingsley. I have a favor to ask of you.”

~~~

Ginny threw the file marked ‘HARRY POTTER’ down on her desk and looked over the walls of the cubicles into Seamus’s, where he and Aaron were talking. “So did either of you find anything?”

Seamus spoke first. “I went to the flat, and I couldn’t find anything of interest there. Seems he lived alone there, and there was nothing incriminating, and nothing to connect him to Harry Potter. So I did as you said, found next of kin.”

“Parents?” Ginny asked.

“No, both died in the war, but –”

“No connection to Potter with that?” Ginny interrupted.

“I don’t think so, when I looked into it, there was nothing suspicious about their individual deaths, part of one of the building explosions. Clarke was a half-blood, he had one muggle grandparent, so it wouldn’t make sense that this was a blood attack,” Seamus said. “So the next of kin is a sister, Annabel. She’s married, lives in Ireland now,” Seamus stopped his story to give a small cheer for his home country. “She said that she hasn’t spoken to Duncan in a while and didn’t know of anything odd going on in his life. He was a quiet one – menial job, no wife, no girlfriend – I couldn’t find anything suspicious about him at all.” Seamus seemed disappointed; he was always hoping for a dramatic scandal to be at the heart of every case they worked. Apparently, Clarke’s murder was too mundane for him, and there were no attractive single witches for him to interview in relation to the case.

“I’ve got nothing as well,” Aaron spoke up as Ginny started to ask. “All of the shops at in that corner of the alley were closed between our time frame. Some employees said they were in the back rooms, but that doesn’t help us – no one heard anything, there was no commotion, just one curse and that’s it. Everyone I talked to in the crowd just saw the wards this morning and gathered to see what happened, none of them said they were there last night.” Ginny sighed.

“That’s what I was expecting really.” The fact that there were no other leads led Ginny to believe that this murder was directly liked to Harry Potter in some way. “So I guess it was because of his looks.”

“Speaking of, didn’t you talk to the one and only Harry Potter just now?” Seamus grinned at Ginny. “What did he have to say?”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Potter did not know Clarke, and has no idea of anyone in particular that could be targeting him. He doesn’t know if he received any threats, but he will bring all of his fan mail in for us to check.” Seamus continued to grin at her obnoxiously. “What, Finnigan?”

“Bet you had a good time talking with him, eh?” Seamus winked at her; Ginny just rolled her eyes.

“Am I missing something?” Aaron asked, looking between the two. Seamus laughed.

“Weasley is a big fan of Harry Potter.” Ginny opened her mouth to retort, but Seamus continued talking. “She was even when we were still at Hogwarts. Ron told me you had a poster of him over your bed. You fancied him then, and I reckon you still do.” Aaron and Seamus laughed. Ginny shut her mouth tight and glared at them. Seamus and Ron, one of Ginny’s older brothers, were dorm mates at Hogwarts only one year ahead of her.

“First off, Ron is a filthy liar,” Ginny began, leveling a glare so strong at them that they both stopped laughing. “Second, I didn’t fancy him, I was interested in him – in his fight against Voldemort. We all were, isn’t that why we fought at the Battle of Hogwarts?” Seamus shrugged. “And third, Harry Potter is an arrogant creep who thinks he is better than everyone else on the planet.” On that note, Ginny turned back to her own desk and sat down, not looking at either of her teammates.

“Well, isn’t he?” Aaron asked, prompting Seamus to start laughing again. Ginny bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything back to them.

“Weasley!” The voice of Head Auror Gawain Robards could be heard over the noise of the Auror Office. Ginny cringed and stood, wondering what the Head Auror needed to speak with her about.

Seamus and Aaron stopped laughing to watch her go. “Ooooh,” they called in unison, as if she was a schoolchild being called to the headmaster’s office.

“Very mature, you two,” Ginny called over her shoulder as she walked over to the Head Auror’s office. Knocking on the open door, she peeked inside.

“You wanted to see me, sir,” she addressed Robards. The middle-aged Head Auror sat at his office, going through a pile of parchment. His stomach had expanded in the past seven years that Ginny had known him, so much that his robes seemed fit to burst. His greying hair was receding, providing a bright reflection from the wall sconce on his shiny forehead. He glanced up at Ginny’s words.

“Ah yes, Weasley, come in. I just received a memo from the Minister,” Robards picked up one of the purple Ministry memos sitting on his desk and waved it. “It seems he had a visit from a Mr. Harry Potter, who was worried about his connection to the case you are investigating.”

Ginny tried to stop her eyes from rolling so that Robards would not see. She failed. “I already spoke to Potter, sir, and I told him that we would let him know-”

“I know that, but apparently, that wasn’t enough for Mr. Potter,” Robards interrupted her. “He wants to be involved in the investigation.” Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but Robards continued over her. “And according to this memo, Minister Shacklebolt agrees. He thinks that Mr. Potter will be a helpful asset to you, considering his history and his connection to the crime. Mr. Potter says,” Robards glanced at the memo and read from it, “he will be right back with his mail for you to sort through _together_. And after that, he will be working with you until the killer is caught.”

Ginny sat in silence for a few seconds before speaking. “But, sir, he isn’t a qualified Auror, he can’t–” Again, Robards interrupted her.

“Given his past, the Minister feels he is more than qualified to help you. And we do not want to make the Minister angry. Just put up with him until you find out who did it. Until then, you are stuck together.”


	3. Chapter 3

A thunderstorm raged outside the tiny window of the evidence examination room. Harry sat across the table from Ginny Weasley, just like he did earlier that afternoon in the interrogation room. This time, the table in front of them was littered with pieces of parchment in a variety of colors and shapes, all carrying different messages. Harry did not even realize how much fan mail he received on a daily basis, nor had he realized how much tedious work it would be to look through it all when he volunteered to help with the investigation. 

Harry finished reading a letter from a woman in Aberdeen pledging to name all of her children after him and looked up at Ginny, who was studying a pale peach parchment that appeared to have some sort of drawing on it. Her brow was wrinkled in confusion and concentration, her long red hair pulled into a messy ponytail after two hours in the stuffy examination room.

Ginny Weasley fascinated him, to put it shortly. Unlike the scores of young witches that he had met over the years, she did not fawn over him, or seem impressed with him whatsoever. She was obviously intelligent if she was able to become an Auror at such a young age; he found out from Kingsley that she finished training at 19, one of the youngest in recent history. To Harry, Ginny Weasley seemed to have more depth than all of the women he had dated in the past five years combined. He was determined to win her over eventually, if only to convince himself that someone like her could like him.

At that moment, Ginny threw her hands up in exasperation. “Nothing! And we’ve been at this for hours! You do have some crazy fans, Potter, but none seem crazy enough to want to kill someone and make the victim look like you.”

“Maybe we should take a break, Weasley.” Harry stood up and poured two cups of tea before he felt bad about addressing her that way. “Sorry, Auror Weasley.” He set one cup down in front of her and sat down with his own.

“Thanks,” she responded, taking a sip. “And you can call me Weasley. If we are working together, then you may as well act like one of the group. We call each other by our surnames, its just what we do.” She laughed. “I’ve known Seamus since I was eleven and I still call him Finnigan.”

Harry did not know who Seamus Finnigan was, as he had yet to be introduced to the rest of Ginny’s team. Instead of asking, he said, “That’s a long time to know him, did you go to school together?”

“Yes, well, he was doom mates with one of my older brothers at Hogwarts. The two of them are still rather good friends.”

“One of your brothers? Do you have many?” Harry was glad that Ginny seemed to have warmed up to him enough to make conversation, no matter how trivial.

“Oh yes, I have six older brothers.” A sudden sadness came over Ginny’s face. “Damn, make that five older brothers.” She sighed and stared into her tea cup.

“What happened?” Even ask he asked Harry realized that he may be prying into something too personal, but he could not quell his curiosity.

Ginny took a moment before answering. “Fred was… well, he was killed during the war. At the Battle of Hogwarts actually.”

A wave of guilt passed over Harry. “I’m so sorry,” he muttered, barely audible. These past few years had been better, but in the months after the war, he had felt extremely guilty about each life that was lost during the time it took him to overpower and kill Voldemort. If only he had been faster…

“George took it the hardest. His twin brother, gone. It was hard on all of us but for him, it was terrible. And the worst part is, we never knew who did it. They could still be out there for all I know and they killed my brother.” Ginny no longer looked sad, but angry. “That’s really why I became an Auror, because no family should be left wondering who killed their loved one.” She suddenly shook her head as if to clear it, apparently unsure why she was telling Harry this story. He decided to try and sympathize.

“I understand, its absolutely terrible losing someone.” Ginny gasped as comprehension hit her.

“I didn’t even realize… of all people to be saying this too… you lost so much…” she covered her mouth to stop more words from tumbling out.

“Don’t worry about it,” Harry said, and he was surprised to realize that he was sincere about it. “It isn’t even my parents that hurt the most. I don’t remember them, and I know who killed them, and why – not that it makes more sense that way. But the Battle of Hogwarts was rough on me too. Sirius, my godfather, died there. He was the one who really raised me, and losing him was like loosing another parent. So I know exactly what you mean.” Ginny was staring at him in attention, and for a moment, their eyes locked together in understanding.

“We should probably keep looking through these letters,” Ginny said, looking down and tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Harry nodded. Both of them picked up a piece of parchment and started reading.

“So is there any more information about Clarke?” Harry asked, trying to get rid of the tension from the last topic of conversation.

“Not much. The only family member we found was a sister and she said she doesn’t talk to him much, and that she did not notice anything wrong last time they spoke. All we have left to check into with him is work, but I really cant imagine that anything happened there that lead to this.”

“Did you say he worked for the Post Office?” Harry asked.

“Yes, as an owl trainer. Really, it doesn’t lend itself to enemies, but we have to check. I really hope we find a threat somewhere in here...” Harry looked up at her with a wry smile. “No offense… well, not that anyone should be threatening to kill you, or anyone else, its just we would get a lead, and we really need one.” Ginny looked flustered, Harry loved it.

For the next half hour, Harry and Ginny sifted through piles of letters. Harry was at the point of giving up when a ding rang out from Ginny’s pocket. “Ginny!” a feminine voice called, and Ginny reached into her pocket and removed a communication mirror. She tapped it with her wand before speaking into it.

“Hello, Hermione, have you found something?” Harry could not see the face of the woman who was speaking.

“Yes!” came the excited voice of ‘Hermione’, “and I can not believe I didn’t think to check for it earlier. It just seems like the obvious choice. I mean what are the chances that –”

“Hermione,” Ginny cut her off, “we’ll be right there.” With that, she disconnected the call. Harry looked at her, surprised.

“Why did you cut her off? It sounds like she found something important.” He paused. “Who is she?” he added as an afterthought.

“That was Hermione Granger, our Medical Examiner,” Ginny waved her wand and the parchment floated to form neat piles on the table. “And I know from past experience of dealing with Hermione, if you don’t stop her early, you will find out more than you ever wanted to know about the origin of the spells she found or the ingredients in a potion. Talking to her in person is much easier.” She placed a protective ward over the parchment and opened the door to the meeting room before turning back and looking at him.

“Well, are you coming?”

~~~

“Glamour charms!” Hermione’s excited shout rang out in the quiet lab. Ginny and Harry were barely through the door, but it Hermione could not hold it in anymore.

“Excuse me?” Harry and Ginny responded in sync, and then turned to look at one another in confusion. Hermione cleared her throat and waited until both of them were paying attention to her again.

“I said glamour charms!” Hermione looked between the two, waiting for a strong reaction. Seeing that she wasn’t getting any, she sighed and began to explain. “The dead man laying on the table here is your victim, Duncan Clarke. Seeing as he bares a resemblance to the man standing next to you, Ginny, I am assuming that this is Harry Potter.” The question hung in her voice.

“Yes, of course. I’m Harry Potter, nice to meet you,” Harry extended his hand to shake her own. Hermione smiled at him politely, and then turned and looked at Ginny, who was rolling her eyes. Raising her eyebrows questioningly, Hermione prompted Ginny to respond.

“Hermione, Harry Potter. Potter, Hermione Granger,” she said, performing simple introductions. “Potter here is going to be working with us to solve this case because it is of _special interest_ to him.” Ginny seemed sour as she said this. Hermione once again looked between the two, from the exasperated look on Ginny’s face to the confident smirk on Harry Potter’s. She saw just about to say something more on the situation when Ginny began speaking. “So what about glamour charms?”

“Right,” Hermione began, knowing that she would ask Ginny about everything later. “I told you that there were no other spells performed on him during the time of death, but it seems I was wrong. The simple diagnostic spell that I performed at the crime scene detects high amounts of magical activity, not minor cosmetic spells. It seems that Mr. Clarke here was actually wearing two glamour charms. One on his hair; the spell turned it black, when it was naturally brown. The other spell is on his eyes, which are naturally blue.” As she spoke, Hermione waved her wand over the body, canceling the charms and revealing Clarke’s natural appearance. He suddenly looked nothing like Harry Potter.

“So, this man actually changed his own features to look like mine?” Harry asked.

“That’s what you would think, no?” The look on Hermione’s face showed her sarcasm.

“Then what was it?” Ginny asked.

“Both glamour charms were cast four minutes _after_ the _Avada Kedavra_ was cast on him. Your killer did the glamour charms.”

“What does that mean?” Harry asked, turning to Ginny.

“It means that Clarke was not killed because of his resemblance to you, because he doesn’t actually have any resemblance to you. He was most likely chosen at random just for this crime. This is going to make it just that much harder to find who did it if there are no leads whatsoever from Clarke’s end.” Ginny sighed. “And we didn’t even find anything in your fan mail.”

“So how will we find the killer?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know. I’m afraid that we will receive something from the killer later, something to make the message more obvious. But until then…” she trailed off.

“Shouldn’t we go to the Post Office, see if there was anything there?” Harry’s suggestion obviously caught Ginny off guard.

“I suppose you’re right,” she said reluctantly. “Well, Hermione, thanks. I’ll see you later.”

Harry Potter smiled at her and winked. “It was lovely meeting you. See you around.” And with that, he followed Ginny from the room.

Hermione laughed to herself as the two of them left the room. She would certainly be having a conversation with her best friend at the end of the day, and she could guess who would be the topic of the conversation.

~~~

Harry shut the front door of his flat to see Remus Lupin waiting for him.

“Remus, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you at home with Teddy?” Harry asked, taking a seat next to his friend on the couch.

“Did you really think that after an Auror dragged you off to question you about a murder I would not wait to find out what happened? So, are you off to Azkaban?” Remus started laughing.

“Oh, very funny,” Harry responded, smiling and propping his feet up on the coffee table. “Sorry to disappoint you Remus, but I am not going to prison, and the Aurors do not suspect me of murder. A man was murdered, and apparently the killer used glamour charms to make him look more like me. He even gave the man a lightning bolt cut on his forehead.”

“Wow,” Remus said, turning to look at Harry. “That actually is very serious. What are you going to do, are you in danger?” Harry smiled at the concern on Remus’s face.

“Weasley doesn’t think so right now, but she said that she will figure it out. That is why I got myself an in, to work with her, see if I can find out who is after me.”

Remus’s concerned face turned into a smirk. “Weasley, is that the Auror who came to pick you up? You are going to be working with her?”

“Yes. Because I want to find out who it is that killed someone and made him look like me.” He looked at the smirk that was still on Remus’s face. “That is the only reason, and I know what you are thinking.”

“And you aren’t Harry Potter,” Remus said with a shake of his head. Harry looked down in embarrassment and shoved his hands into his pockets. Feeling something there, he withdrew his fist clenched around a piece of parchment with the blonde witch’s name and address. “And here proves my point,” Remus said, eyeing the parchment. “So I suppose you are going to be on your way now?”

Harry looked from the name written in careful cursive on the scrap to Remus’s face. Taking his wand out of his pocket, Harry ignited the tip and touched the parchment to it. The pair watched it curl and smolder until nothing remained of it but ashes.

~~~

“What are you doing here?” Hermione asked as Ginny walked through the front door of their flat.

“Er, I live here...” Ginny trailed off, looking curiously at Hermione. “Where else should I be?”

“I thought you would be off with the ‘Chosen One’.” Hermione smiled. She was clearing up the remains of her dinner, walking around the kitchen and putting things away. She reached into the cupboard and took out a wine glass, pouring some for Ginny and then filling her own glass. Ginny walked forward and picked up hers, talking a large gulp.

“No, I decided that we would go to the Post Office tomorrow morning. It’s been a long day.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Hermione said. When she saw that Ginny would not respond, she tried another tactic. “So what is he like, he seemed nice when I met him.”

“Nice?” Ginny snorted. “He is the farthest thing from nice. He is arrogant, egotistical, thinks that he is Merlin’s gift to witches…” she trailed off, shaking her head.

“So he is nothing like what you thought he would be?” Hermione asked. “Nothing like the Harry Potter you wanted him to be, the one you had hanging over your bed at Hogwarts?” Ginny could hear the mocking tone in Hermione’s words.

“You have been spending too much time with Ron, Hermione,” Ginny said. “But it doesn’t matter; it may be a disappointment that he isn’t the hero I thought he was, but as soon as this case is closed, he will go back to his vain life and I can move on without him.” She said all of this with a note of finality.

“Alright,” Hermione said, pacifying her for now. “But you never know, you might end up getting along really well.”

“I wouldn’t count on it.”


	4. Chapter 4

“It’s a real tragedy, isn’t it?” Kenneth Larkin, the personnel manager at the Diagon Alley branch of the Post Office shook his head sadly. “He was a good lad. I read all about the murder in the _Prophet_ , but there were no details.” Larkin turned and looked at Harry, his eyes doing the familiar flick up to his forehead.

When Ginny and Harry had entered the Post Office that morning, everyone had frozen in place. Ginny knew that it had less to do with that morning’s reports on the murder and her Auror robes than the man at her side. Harry Potter was the most famous man in the entire Wizarding World and he had the ability to turn everyone’s heads. It amazed Ginny that any of these people were even able to function with the amount of staring that they were doing.

Kenneth Larkin had greeted them at the front desk and brought them into the back, probably in an attempt to increase productivity in his office. His thinning blond hair was combed carefully over his forehead in a vain attempt to hide his bald spots, but the only thing the hairdo achieved was making him appear ten years older than he really was.

“Do you know what happened to him?” Larkin asked.

Harry went to answer, but Ginny stomped quickly on his foot to silence him. “Well, Mr. Larkin, he was definitely killed, but we couldn’t find any problem in his personal life that would result in murder. Do you know if he was having any problems here at work?”

Larkin chucked lightly. “Unless one of the owls pecked him to death, I don’t think I have the answer for you.” Ginny raised one eyebrow and Larkin stopped laughing. “Just a joke. But no, Duncan really did not work with many of the other people here, mostly just with the owls. He was the best trainer that we have seen here in a very long time. You know, just last month, one of his trainees was able to hit over one hundred kilometers in just under th –”

“I would love to hear about it, really, but we do have a killer to catch,” Ginny cut him off before he could continue talking about owl flight speeds. Larkin looked disappointed, but managed to pull himself together.

“Of course, Auror Weasley, Mr. Potter. What can I do to help?”

“Did Duncan leave any of his belongings here?” Harry jumped in before Ginny had a chance to speak.

“Yes, he had a locker, let’s see,” Larking flipped through a pile of parchment until he found the correct sheet. “Number 436 was his.”

“Thank you very much Mr. Larkin. I’ll let you know if I need anything else. And please get in touch with the Auror Office if you remember anything important about Duncan that could help us figure out what happened.” Ginny shook Kenneth Larkin’s hand and walked around him to the row of lockers. Harry followed closely behind her. As they approached locker number 436, Ginny took out her wand and performed a basic detection spell to see if there was any dark magic in the area. Detecting nothing, she murmured “ _Alohomora_ ,” at Clarke’s locker. The lock clicked and the door sprang open.

The contents of the locker seemed mundane – a winter cloak, a couple of packages of Droobles Best Blowing Gum, some spare Chocolate Frog trading cards. A small stack of parchment littered the floor of the locker. Ginny lifted the pile out and threw it down on a nearby bench. She sifted through old yellowing copies of the _Daily Prophet_ , notes made by Clarke, and pages of a monthly calendar with dates circled and memos crossed out. Harry reached across her and lifted what appeared to be a collection of letters.

“Subscription renewal for _Quidditch Quarterly_ , letter from his sister, an old summons for an unauthorized portkey,” Harry flipped quickly through the pile, identifying each one. He stopped and stared down at one of the letters. “Hey, this is addressed to me!”

Ginny jumped quickly and snatched the letter out of Harry’s hand before he could open it. She could see Kenneth Larkin watching from behind them, and did not want any crucial information to get out before the Auror Office was ready to release it.

“We can take this back to the Ministry, Potter.” She pocketed the letter addressed to Harry as well as the rest of the letters he had been looking through. Ginny turned to address Larkin. “Once again, thank you for all of your help, Mr. Larkin. We will contact you if we need anything else.” With that, she strode quickly past the man and to the exit of the Post Office; not even bothering to make sure Harry was following her.

~~~

Seamus jumped up from his seat as soon as he saw Ginny coming through the door to the office. “Weasley, do you have any updates?” He knew immediately who the man behind her was but he did not know what he was doing there. The last time he had seen Ginny was the day before, when Robards had called her into his office. She had left in a huff immediately afterwards, and Robards would not say what their conversation was about. When Hermione had spoken to him about the glamour charms, she mentioned Ginny visiting her along with someone else, but would not say who, instead she just kept smiling and laughing in a very un-Hermione like way.

“Yes, I do. Will you fetch Mathews and come to the meeting room immediately.” Ginny sounded frustrated, and stormed over to the meeting rooms, Harry Potter in tow. 

Seamus walked quickly over to the break room and found Aaron pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Oi, Mathews, Weasley is back. Looks like we are getting some answers.” The two of them quickly went to the meeting room, opening the door to find Ginny putting a pile of parchment on the table.

“Good, you two are here.” She turned and looked at them and then sighed. “I might as well get the introductions out of the way. Potter, these are my teammates, Seamus Finnigan and Aaron Mathews. Lads, this is Harry Potter. He has requested that he be allowed access to the case, and, seeing his relationship to the circumstances, the Minister has approved it. He will be working with us until we catch the killer.” 

Seamus reached forward to shake Harry’s hand. “Nice to meet you, mate,” he said.

“Likewise,” Harry said, doing the same with Aaron. “Ginny says you went to school together?” he asked.

“Oh yes, we did. I’ve got loads of stories about her. Did she tell you about the poster-?”

“No time to socialize, we have a killer to find,” Ginny cut him off, looking like she could kill him. “I suppose you heard about the glamour charms?”

“Yes, Hermione told us last night,” Aaron supplied, taking a seat at the table. “Does this mean that he had no connection to the killer at all and it was just random?”

“That’s what I was thinking, but then we found this at his work this morning,” Ginny lifted one of the letters off the table and read from the front. “It is addressed to Mr. Potter here, and it was among Clarke’s possessions in his locker. Granted, it isn’t the most secure location, so it could have been planted there.”

“What does it say?” Seamus asked.

“Let’s find out, shall we,” Ginny responded as she slit the envelope open. Before she could pull the parchment out, she was interrupted.

“Seeing as it _is_ my mail, don’t you think I should open it?” Harry asked with a smug grin. He seemed to sense Ginny’s response before it came, because he followed up with, “We already know there is no dark magic, so a _civilian_ like me would not be harmed by opening it, would I?”

Ginny could find no way out of it, so she handed the letter over to Harry. Seamus and Aaron exchanged amused glances at the look of exasperation on Ginny’s face. Harry withdrew the letter and started reading it, his eyes growing wider as he neared the bottom of the parchment. Ginny was losing her patience.

“Are you going to tell us what the bloody letter says?” she burst out, tapping her fingers against the table. Harry handed the letter over wordlessly, the mischievous grin gone. Ginny’s face became serious as well, and she turned the letter so all three Aurors could read it.

The letter was short and to the point:

_Harry Potter,_

_The Wizarding World may see you as a hero, but I do not. You may think you killed for good, but there is no good in what you have done. What you have taken from me – namely my security – is worse than any crime you believe the Dark Lord commit in his time._

_Not everyone loves you Harry Potter, and there are many like me who want to see you dead. I will see to it that you are paid back for the pain that you have caused my companions and me, and I will not be stopped by any witch or wizard that attempts to come in my way._

There was no signature.

The three looked at each other and then turned to Harry. He cleared his throat. “I guess we have something to go on now.”

Ginny sighed, rubbing her temples. This case was much more complicated than your average murder. “Mathews, will you run this letter down to Diggory, have him see if he can find anything on this letter that will show us who wrote it.”

“Oh, but he will be so disappointed that you aren’t bringing it, Weasley,” Aaron began to tease her, but stopped at the look on her face. “I’ll let you know if he finds anything,” he said as he left.

“So you don’t think that Clarke wrote this letter,” Harry asked. “It was in his locker.”

“No, definitely not. Clarke did not kill himself, and he did not change his appearance to look like yours. The glamour charms were set deliberately as a message to us, and to you. You need to watch out Potter, someone out there wants you dead,” Ginny responded.

“It isn’t the first time.”

“That isn’t funny,” Ginny sighed. She leaned back in her chair and turned to look at Harry. “Can you think of anyone specific that would want to kill you?”

“No,” Harry responded quickly, and then began speaking at the look on Ginny’s face. “I mean, sure, there were a lot of Death Eaters left over at the end of the war that wanted me dead, but didn’t the Auror Office find them all?”

“We found all known Death Eaters," Ginny started, exasperated, "but there still could be those whose identities were unknown to us, or who remained in the shadows during the fighting and the aftermath and that way evaded detection. It certainly sounds like and angry Death Eater.”

“If that is the case, then how did it end up in Clarke’s locker?” Harry asked.

“It could have been planted there after the fact,” Seamus began. “After Clarke was killed, the murderer could have gone back to the Post Office and put the letter there, knowing that we would eventually find it that way. Or, somehow, Clarke found it when it was at the Post Office before it reached you, and that is when he put it in his locker.”

“It really could be either one, but if Clarke found the letter, why wouldn’t he hand it over immediately?” Ginny speculated out loud. “Also, it was sealed, Clarke would have opened it if he knew what was written inside.”

“It isn’t exactly hard to re-seal something with magic,” Harry pointed out. “Anyone could have done that, it didn’t have a wax seal.”

“Yes, but if Clarke was just going to leave it in his locker, why would he re-seal the envelope after reading the letter?” Ginny shook her head. “We aren’t going to get anywhere speculating, we need something concrete.”

The three of them sat in silence for a moment, thinking, until Harry brought up a completely different topic.

“So, who is Diggory?” Harry asked, “And what is he going to find?”

Seamus laughed. “Cedric Diggory is an artifact analyst. He usually works with old items, finding mind-numbingly boring information about ancient runes or some other rubbish. But sometimes, he actually turns up with something important about a piece of evidence that we have.”

“A wonderful biography, really, Finnigan,” Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, and I forgot, most importantly: he is in love with Weasley.” Seamus grinned, and Harry turned to look at Ginny with a look of shock.

“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend,” he declared.

“First of all, he isn’t my boyfriend. Second, he is not in love with me.” At that, Seamus scoffed and started laughing. Ginny ignored him. “And third, how would you know anything about my personal life, Potter, it’s not like we are friends.”

“You wound me, Ginny Weasley.” Harry smiled at her. “But tell me, if Diggory isn’t your boyfriend, then who is?”

“Weasley doesn’t have a boyfriend.” Seamus cut in between his laughter. “Although she does have a queue of admirers. Would you like an application?”

“Wonderful,” Ginny said before Harry could speak. “Now I have to work with three idiots instead of two. How about we focus on the serious situation at hand and the threat against your life, Potter, instead of my private life.” 

“That doesn’t sound nearly as interesting, but I suppose we could try that.” Harry winked at her. “So what do you think this Diggory bloke is going to find?”

“I don’t even know if there is something to find. The handwriting is a dead end, it was made with a Dictation Quill, and thousands of people own those. The most that a diagnostic spell can tell us about that is if the voice that dictated the message was a man’s or a woman’s. But Diggory knows other spells that I don’t, so maybe he will be able to find something that will point us in the right direction.”

A ding rang out from Seamus’s communication mirror. He answered, and Aaron’s face appeared on the screen. “Why don’t you all come on down to see us. It looks like Diggory has found something.”

~~~

Harry did not like Cedric Diggory’s face, or the way that he kept smiling. Diggory had smiled at everyone: Seamus, himself, and especially Ginny as they entered his office within the Improper Use of Magic Offices.

Harry stood with the three Aurors around an examination table on which lay the threatening letter. Unlike everyone else Harry had met in the past two days, Diggory did not seem particularly excited to be meeting ‘The Chosen One,’ rather he was more interested in greeting Ginny. Seamus had looked at Harry as if to say, ‘I told you so,’ and Harry could see exactly why someone would think Diggory was in love with Ginny.

“So what have you got for us, Cedric?” Ginny asked.

“I think what he has for us is different than what he has for her, no?” Seamus leaded over and whispered in Harry’s ear. Harry snorted in response, and Ginny glared at both of them. Aaron just shook his head with a slight smile. And Diggory just kept grinning. He waved his wand and the letter and envelope levitated in front of them, spinning slowly as he began to speak.

“I can tell you one thing: this letter has not been in many hands. There are no claw indentations, so it was never attached to an owl. Because there were no processing or diagnostics spells cast on the envelope, this letter never passed through the system at the Post Office.”

“So there goes theory two,” Seamus noted, referencing his previous hypothesis. Diggory kept speaking.

“As you probably deduced already, Ginny, the note was written with a Dictation Quill, and I can tell you that it was a man that dictated the note. Other than that, there is nothing about the parchment or the handwriting that is of note, or that can give you any clue as to the identity of the author.” Diggory directed his entire speech to Ginny, ignoring the fact that there were three other people in the room.

“So did you find anything that can help us identify the author?” Harry asked. Diggory must have missed the sarcasm in his voice, because he continued to smile while giving his answer.

“Actually, yes. I was able to trace a slight magical signature that was present around the parchment. It seems that someone thought it was more pertinent to use magic to handle the parchment than to physically do so. Unfortunately for them, they don’t know that I can trace that. I identified the magical signature and compared it to those in the archives. It belongs to one Hugh Runcorn.”

“Runcorn? Related to Albert Runcorn?” Ginny asked, surprised.

“His son,” Aaron confirmed. 

“Runcorn? Should I know that name?” Harry asked.

“Probably. Albert Runcorn was a big player here during the war. According to my father, he wasn’t exactly a Death Eater, but he was a sympathizer; he played a large part in finding muggle-borns and helping the administration strip them of their magic,” Ginny answered. “What do we know about Hugh?”

Aaron held up a file and read from the inside. “He has no priors, probably because he is only nineteen. One year out of Hogwarts, he works for the Office of Magical Transportation – Broom Regulatory Control.”

“Let’s go talk to him,” Ginny said.

“We can’t. He didn’t come into work today, and without notice. We don’t know where he is.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Mathews, run down to the Apparition Registry and get Runcorn’s current address, will you?” Ginny requested. The four of them had left Cedric Diggory and walked back to the Auror Office. “If he didn’t come to work today, that means he has something to hide. We need to get to him before he goes on the run.”

Aaron ran off to get Runcorn’s current address. Ginny turned to Harry.

“Listen, you can wait here while we pick him up and then you can come in to the interrogation, okay?” she asked. Harry shook his head in disagreement.

“When I wanted in on this case, I wanted in on all of it. I’m coming with you.”

Ginny sighed and took a couple of seconds to compose herself. “I don’t know, Potter. After all, you are the killer’s main target, and if Runcorn is the killer, then you could be in real danger if you come with us – I don’t expect him to come quietly.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I can handle myself. I’ve been in danger before. This would not be the first time I have to fight myself out of a sticky situation.”

“I know that. But, Potter, you aren’t an official Auror. And if you injure a suspect while we are attempting to take him in, you could face real consequences.”

Harry smiled. “So you aren’t really worried that I’ll get hurt, rather that I will do too much damage. Too powerful for my own good, eh?” This time Ginny rolled her eyes.

“Maybe I’m hoping you will get hit in the head with a shrinking hex, it would do you well to be taken down a size.” Harry had opened his mouth to retort when Aaron came skidding around the corner.

“I’ve got the address…” He looked between the two of them and at Seamus, who was standing to the side and smiling. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Yes,” Harry began.

“No,” Ginny said decisively. “Where are we headed?”

“Magical Glasgow,” Aaron read off a piece of parchment. “He has an apartment there.”

“Alright, then, let’s go.” Ginny stopped in front of her desk and grabbed a black windbreaker style jacket. She shrugged it on as she walked toward the lifts at the end of the corridor. Aaron and Seamus retrieved the same jackets and put them on. Harry ran after them.

“I’m coming, right?” He asked, jogging slightly behind Ginny. She sighed.

“Fine, but you stay in the back, and no funny business, you got that, Potter?”

“Yes, ma’am, Auror Weasley.” He watched the back of her head in front of him, her long red hair almost completely obscuring the large white block letters spelling out AUROR on the back of her jacket. “What’s with the getups?”

“Specialty made protective gear, mate,” Seamus answered. He pulled at the collar of the jacket. “These little darlings will block every spell aimed at the torso except for the Unforgivables.” Harry whistled low, impressed. “Another wonderful Weasley invention.”

Startled, Harry turned to Ginny, who had stopped, waiting for the lift to arrive. “You invented these?” Ginny laughed.

“Wouldn’t that be shocking? But no, I don’t invent things. These are courtesy of my brothers, George and Ron. They run the joke shop in Diagon Alley, but they do sometimes come up with serious stuff that is very useful,” Ginny finished speaking and walked into the lift that had arrived, pushing the button for the Atrium. Seamus, Aaron, and Harry piled in and the lift jerked backwards.

“So, what, I don’t get one?” Harry asked, disappointed. Ginny threw him a withering look.

“No, you don’t, because you aren’t even supposed to be here.” The lift arrived at the Atrium, the cool female voice announcing their location. The three Aurors strode quickly through the throngs with Harry on their heels until they all reached the apparition point. Each individual read the location on the slip of parchment that Aaron provided, and with a turn, three seconds later the four were standing on a rainy street in Magical Glasgow.

Aaron consulted the parchment again. “It should be right at the corner, third floor.”

With Ginny in the lead, they walked across the street and to the correct building, entering and beginning to ascend the stairs. After climbing three flights, Ginny held the door open to the corridor of the building, and Seamus and Aaron went through. Ginny put up a hand to stop Harry before he could follow them.

“Now, Potter, you need to remember what I told you. Stay in the back, and do not fire unless you are fired at first. Do you understand me?” She waited for Harry to nod before continuing. “We are going to try to do this as quickly as possible, and I really do not want you involved in any exchange of spell-fire, if avoidable.”

Harry stopped her before she could continue. “Don’t worry, Weasley, I’ll behave. I really don’t know why you would expect otherwise.” He smiled at her, and she rolled her eyes.

“Yes, no idea whatsoever.” Ginny walked through the door with Harry following her, and they could both see Seamus and Aaron surrounding a door marked 305. Ginny raised her hand and knocked on the door. “Hugh Runcorn? This is the Auror Office. Open this door immediately.”

There was no response from inside, but there was a slight scuffling sound. Ginny swung her wand in the air quickly, casting a widespread Anti-Disapparition Jinx. They could hear a muffled pop – an indication that someone attempted to apparate in a prohibited area. Ginny aligned herself in front of the door and glanced back at Harry quickly to make sure he was staying behind her. With a nod to her teammates, she raised her wand and shouted, “ _Reducto!_ ” The door was blasted off its hinges and the three Aurors rushed in while bright red beams of light from Stunning Spells rained down on them.

One of the spells hit Seamus in the face, and he immediately fell to the ground. Harry doubled back in alarm, but Aaron and Ginny plowed forward without checking on him. Hugh Runcorn was standing with his back to the window, which he appeared to have been attempting to climb out of before Ginny blasted the door down.

Harry checked Seamus, and seeing that he was just stunned, revived him. As Seamus groaned and clutched his head, trying to clear it, Harry attempted to stand with his back against the wall, not getting in the way of the duel in front of him. It went against his nature to stand and watch a fight without joining in, but he did not want Ginny mad at him for getting involved without her permission.

Runcorn, who had been successfully avoiding all of Ginny and Aaron’s offensive spells, suddenly turned to face Harry. He pointed his wand directly at him, and shouted something unintelligible.

“ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ” Ginny cried, jumping in front of Harry. The mustard yellow spell that was aimed at him glanced off her jacket and hit the wall while her accurately placed Body-Bind spell hit its target, and he dropped to the ground.

While Aaron rushed over to help Seamus, Ginny approached Runcorn, who was lying supine upon the ground looking up at her. She looked down upon his frozen body. “Hugh Runcorn, you are under arrest.”

~~~

“I didn’t do it.”

“Well if that doesn’t mean you did, I don’t know what does,” Harry laughed as he entered the interrogation room behind Ginny. Hugh Runcorn was sitting in the same chair that Harry had occupied the day before, and this time, there were two chairs placed across the table from him. Before taking his seat, Harry reached over and pulled one out for Ginny. Once again she rolled her eyes, but this time she smiled as well.

“Considering your fight with us when we came to talk to you, I am certain that you did something. By the way, do you know what the punishment for attacking an Auror is?” Ginny left the question hanging as she took her seat and opened the file of information about the case. She then looked up to face Runcorn. “So why don’t you tell us what you didn’t do?”

“I didn’t send that letter.”

Ginny and Harry looked at each other in shock. Ginny took a few seconds to process that and then spoke, “No, you didn’t send the letter. You placed it in Duncan Clarke’s locker at the Post Office after you killed him in Diagon Alley.”

This time, Runcorn looked shocked. “Killed who? I didn’t kill anyone! And I didn’t do anything with that letter; I put it back where I found it. I swear I didn’t write it.”

“Alright, hold on,” Ginny slid the letter out from the file and turned it to face Runcorn. “Is this the letter that you are talking about?”

He looked at it briefly before nodding, “Yes, that’s it.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you are talking about Hugh, before you get charged with sending threats and murder on top of the assault charges. Because you may say that you did not write this letter, but your magical signature is on it. That proves that it was in your possession before it ended up in Clarke’s locker.” Ginny sat back and watched Runcorn carefully, waiting for him to speak.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, turning to look at Harry. “I should have told someone about the letter when I saw it.”

“Where did you see it?” Harry asked.

“I was at my desk – in Broom Regulations – and I noticed it on the ground. So I summoned it, which is probably how my magical signature is on it. When I read what it said… I was worried, I didn’t know what to do, so I put it back where I found it and left it there.”

“That certainly sounds like a convenient story. The letter just happens to appear outside of your desk, very interesting. So who put it there?” Ginny asked, crossing her arms.

“I don’t know, I didn’t see when it got there. But then it was gone again later, and I only saw one person pass through the area in the meanwhile.”

“And what did this person look like?”

“I couldn’t really see… I didn’t want to look up too much, draw attention to myself. I just saw the back of the person leaving. They were wearing solid black robes and had long, silver-blonde hair.” Runcorn looked between them imploringly. “Please believe me, I swear I didn’t threaten you,” he said to Harry.

Ginny sighed. She was not sure whether or not she believed his story, but they would have to see what else he had to say. “Tell us about Duncan Clarke. How do you know him?”

Runcorn looked confused. “I don’t know a Duncan Clarke. I had never heard the name until you said it a few moments ago.”

Ginny reached into the file and pulled out a picture of Duncan that his sister had provided. In it, he bore absolutely no resemblance to Harry Potter. “This is Duncan Clarke. Have you ever seen him before?”

Runcorn studied the photo for a moment before answering. “No, I don’t believe that I have ever seen him before. Is he the one who died?”

“He didn’t die, he was murdered. And it just so happens that he was in possession of this letter,” she waved the letter in the air, “when he was killed. And whoever it was that killed him made it obvious that the murder was in connection to the threat.”

“How so?”

“I didn’t realize that you get to ask the questions here, Runcorn,” Harry stated. He turned to Ginny. “Is this always how interrogations go?”

“No, it isn’t,” Ginny responded tightly. “And I have a question of my own for you, Mr. Runcorn. Where were you two nights ago between the hours of 11 pm and 1 o’clock the next morning?”

“I was sleeping,” Runcorn answered. “I have work in the morning.”

“Speaking of work, why didn’t you come in to work today?” Ginny asked.

“I wasn’t feeling well, so I took the day off, you saw that I was at home.”

“Yes, you were at home. And yet you did not answer the door when we knocked, and it appeared you were trying to do a runner. Any logical explanation as to why?”

“I knew that you would be coming about the letter, and I freaked. I should have just answered the door, but I was afraid of getting arrested.” Harry laughed at the irony of the situation. “I’m telling you I knew nothing about a murder.”

Silence rested in the room for a few moments. Finally, Ginny spoke. “Alright, if you have nothing else to say, you will stay here while we check your alibi.” With that, she stood and left the room, indicating for Harry to follow her.

“Well, what do you think?” Harry asked as they walked down the corridor back to the cubicles. Ginny shrugged.

“I’m not sure whether or not I believe him, really. The story sounds too convenient, but he really doesn’t seem the type to commit this sort of crime. You need to be comfortable with killing to do this, and a scared kid just out of Hogwarts? He just doesn’t fit the bill.”

Harry hummed in agreement. “And what about the person with the letter? Long blonde hair – are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Ginny looked confused. “What are you thinking?”

“Lucius Malfoy,” Harry said bluntly. “It makes perfect sense, it’s a wonder I didn’t think of it before.”

Ginny stopped short. “Malfoy?” she laughed. “I highly doubt it, Potter. Besides, long blonde hair could be a number of people; it could be my sister-in-law Fleur for all we know.”

Harry shook his head. “But the Dictation Quill was done by a man remember? How many other men do we all know with long blond hair? And think about it, Weasley, we all know that Malfoy was a Death Eater who got off scot free after the war!” His conviction in his answer was clear.

“That’s exactly it, Potter, he got off ‘scot free’. The letter was written by someone who lost a lot during the war, and what did Malfoy lose? He is basically the same person that he was years before the war, only with slightly less influence over the Minister – and that is more of a personal issue than anything else.”

“Yes, but –”

“No, Potter, you are blinded by the hate that you have for him. And I understand. Trust me, I would love to see Malfoy get in trouble, especially for something as big as this – something that would put him away for life. After what he did to me…” Ginny trailed off at the curious look on Harry’s face, realizing that she was saying too much. “It doesn’t matter. Like I said, I would love to see him locked up, but we can’t go after him without anything. All you have is speculation, Potter.” She saw the look on Harry’s face, and pre-empted him before he could fight her. “And Robards will back me up on this, so you don’t have to go running to the Minister,” she warned him. She started walking again and Harry followed her.

“But what if there is evidence?” Harry asked.

Ginny stopped walking and turned to face Harry with a stern expression. “Then of course we could do more, Potter, but there is no evidence. All we have is a report of a ‘person with long blonde hair’ being near the letter. And this comes from our prime suspect! How do you know that Runcorn didn’t make that up so you would think of Malfoy, and try to lead us barking up the wrong broomstick? As far as I am concerned, Runcorn is our number one suspect for the murder.” She turned abruptly and walked into the Auror Office putting an end to their conversation. She arrived at her cubicle and called across to Aaron and Seamus, filling them in on what Runcorn said in interrogation.

“We need to check his alibi. Can you two send a team to talk to the neighbors and find out if any of them saw Runcorn that night? Another team needs to search the flat, look for any evidence that connects him to the victim.”

“What evidence could they find at the flat?” Harry asked, taking a seat next to Ginny’s desk.

“Any connection to the victim helps build a case. But what we are really looking for is the paring knife that was used to carve the scar. That not only serves as a connection, but basically points straight to the murderer.”

As Seamus was working on gathering Law Enforcement Officers to conduct the searches, Robards came out of his office and approached Ginny.

“Weasley,” he called as he neared them, “I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t think Runcorn his your killer.”

“Why not, sir?” Ginny asked, turning to face him.

“We just got an alert, there’s been another murder.”


	6. Chapter 6

The protective wards were already up by the time Ginny, Harry, Seamus, and Aaron arrived in Hogsmeade. Ginny stopped on the way towards the crime scene to look back at the outline of Hogwarts, silhouetted in the night sky. It was late, just past ten o’clock, and most of the lights in the castle were already extinguished. Ginny could make out the bright lamplight in Gryffindor tower where students were probably awake in the common room, working on homework or playing Exploding Snap with no idea that a murder had taken place in the village.

There was a significantly smaller crowd gathered outside of the Ministry of Magic barricade than last time, probably due to the late hour. The body was lying on the ground in a small alley behind the Hog’s Head Inn, a remote location near the edge of the village.

Ginny led the group over to the body and looked down. This man appeared to be slightly taller and thinner than the last one, but the disheveled black hair and light green eyes were the same. The exact same lightning bolt shaped cut stood out on this man’s forehead as well. Ginny heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and turned to see Harry staring down at the body. He swallowed hard before speaking.

“So this is what I look like dead, I guess,” he said with obvious forced humor. Ginny shuddered, trying not to imagine how it must feel for him to see this, and struggling not to compare it to George looking down at his lifeless twin. As drastically different as the two situations were, she was somehow unable to stop herself.

“At least this time I don’t have to ask if it is really him,” Seamus joked weakly.

“Not funny, Finnigan,” Ginny took her wand out and summoned the victim’s wand from inside his pocket. She ran the diagnostic test and watched the words appear on a piece of parchment. “I have the ID. This is Charlie Hapkirk. Seems he lives in a flat right around the corner, on High Street. And he works for the Ministry, in Muggle Relations.” She shrunk the parchment and put it in her pocket. She turned and surveyed the scene before her, only to see Hermione hurrying through the wards.

Hermione rushed over to the body and knelt down, pulling out her wand, a quill, and some parchment. “Give me a few moments, and I’ll have something for you,” she said quickly and then began running her wand over the body with complicated motions while the quill scribbled down information she was murmuring out of the corner of her mouth.

Ginny turned back to Seamus and Aaron. “We may as well start the investigation. Mathews, will you go talk to Aberforth Dumbledore? He is the bartender at the Hog’s Head and probably saw something; he might even be the one who raised the alert. He won’t know you like he would me or Finnigan so he you may get a more objective answer.” Aaron nodded and headed back toward the barricade. “Finnigan, will you talk to the crowd, maybe one of them saw something.” As Seamus walked away, she turned to Harry. “Are you alright with this?”

Harry nodded slowly and swallowed, “Yes, I’ll be fine. It’s not my first dead body.”

“Right,” Ginny said, unsure what else she could say without sounding patronizing. She turned back to Hermione, who was finishing her diagnostic spells.

“Give me one more second,” Hermione said, waving her wand a couple more times. “Sorry I got here so late.”

“We just got here too,” Harry said. “It’s nice to see you again, Hermione.”

“Yes, and hopefully next time we meet it is under better circumstances,” Hermione responded, taking the quill off the parchment and blowing the ink dry. “He’s thirty, healthy,” Hermione began, referencing her notes. “Once again, there are glamour charms, one of the first things I checked.” She waved her wand over the victim’s head, revealing blond hair and dark brown eyes. “So even less resemblance to you, Mr. Potter, than the last one.”

“And I am assuming the cause of death was the same?” Ginny asked.

“Yes, once again it was the _Avada Kedavra_ ,” Hermione said. “Although this time it seems there was a bit of a fight before he went down. He must have seen the attacker coming before he could get a clear shot in. See these singes here,” Hermione pointed to some scorch marks on the victim’s robes. “They are from spell fire. I can tell you exactly what spells when he is back at the lab if you are interested.”

“Anything else?” Ginny asked.

“As you probably know, this happened recently, probably about 15 minutes ago – half an hour at most. I can see here that the ‘scar’ was carved messily, the last one was made ever so carefully, and this one was rushed.”

Hermione began packing up her things, preparing to take the body back to the lab. Ginny was walking around, searching the ground and the walls of the alleyway for evidence. Bored, Harry drifted over to where Aaron was talking to Aberforth Dumbledore. He had seen him maybe twice before at Order of the Phoenix meetings during the war, but they had never been formally introduced.

“Oi, Harry Potter. Not a surprise that you are here,” Aberforth said by way of greeting.

“Nice to see you again, sir,” Harry said respectfully. While they did not know each other well, Harry had known the man’s late brother Albus for as long as he could remember. “Did you call in the alert?”

“Yes I did. It’s not uncommon you see drunks getting into brawls, and trust me its better not to get involved in those. But when I saw the green light – lit up the entire street – well, I certainly recognized it for what it was. So I put in the alert and went outside, but he ran off when he saw me. That’s all I’ve got to say, and I already told the Yank here,” he jerked his thumb over to Aaron who sighed, obviously used to that behavior.

“Yes you have, and thank you, Mr. Dumbledore. I just have a few more questions,” Aaron began, launching into it before Aberforth could stop him. “Was the victim in your bar tonight?”

Aberforth nodded. “He was. He came in maybe nine, had a few drinks by himself, and then left. And before you ask, I didn’t notice anything strange. I have more important things to pay attention to than one wizard nursing a firewhiskey in the corner.” Harry could tell that Aaron was getting impatient with Aberforth’s brusque manner of speaking but he bit back a retort and continued with his questions.

“When he left, did he seem drunk?”

“He wasn’t stumbling or falling down, if that’s what you mean.” Aberforth pulled on his beard as he thought. “He only had a few drinks, and nothing so strong that he wouldn’t be able to function. But it only takes a few to start these kinds of fights.”

“And the other man, was he in your bar as well?” Aaron asked.

Aberforth shrugged. “I didn’t see anyone else leave after the blond lad did, and I didn’t get a good look at the bloke who did it after he ran off.”

“I’ll need a list of every patron of your pub tonight, sir. A memory would be best, if you would agree.”

“Yes, fine.” Aberforth put his wand to his forehead and pulled the silver strand of memory from his temple. Aaron rushed to pull a vial from inside his robes for Aberforth to tip the memory into before he put the stopper in and returned the vial to his pocket.

“Thank you, Mr. Dumbledore, that will be all,” Aaron concluded. Aberforth turned to go back toward his bar, but Harry called out to him with a question.

“Sir,” Aberforth stopped and turned back. “By any chance was Lucius Malfoy in your pub tonight?” Aaron looked at him in surprise, but Harry ignored him.

Aberforth looked suspicious, but he responded anyway. “Yes, he was.” He left it at that and turned away, but it was clear he knew what Harry was thinking.

“Lucius Malfoy?” Aaron asked, confused. “What does he have to do with this?”

“I was just curious.” Harry didn’t want to spread his theory too far or Ginny would be mad at him, but he wanted her to know about this.

“So is Dumbledore always this charming?” Aaron asked as he put away the quill and parchment he had been taking notes on.

“Yes, from the times I have seen him,” Harry answered. “You would think that he was hiding something, but that is just how he is. He doesn’t like picking a side until the last moment: it wasn’t until the Battle of Hogwarts that he finally got involved in the efforts even though his brother was basically our leader.”

“I believe that,” Aaron turned and surveyed the scene. “I’m going to join Finnigan interviewing the spectators, do you want to come?”

Harry shook his head, “No, I need to ask Weasley something.” He walked back over to Ginny, who was examining the wall of the Hog’s Head. “Find anything?”

“Just spell residue, it won’t tell us anything that Hermione can’t find out. Where did you run off to?”

“I was talking to Aberforth, and guess what he said?” Harry was bursting so share his information. Ginny turned to regard him.

“What?”

“Lucius Malfoy was here tonight.”

“You really are set on this, aren’t you, Potter?” Ginny asked with a slight sigh. “But that doesn’t prove anything, I’ll bet there were a lot of people here tonight.”

“True. But didn’t you say that you want to see him put away too? It sounded personal…” Harry trailed off. He did not want it to look like he was prying, but he really wanted to know what the story was.

Ginny sighed again. “If you really want to know the story, I’ll tell you. But back at the office.” She went to tell Seamus and Aaron that they were heading back and then twisted and disappeared. Harry followed her back to the Ministry and through the levels silently until they reached the Auror Office. 

Ginny took a seat at her cubicle and watched as Harry sat down in the chair next to her desk. He looked at her expectantly, and she took a deep breath before beginning.

“My dad and Lucius Malfoy never got along, so I would always hear stories about him growing up; he was always trying to get my dad fired from his job here at the Ministry. And when Ron started Hogwarts, he and Lucius’s son, Draco, became instant enemies, and Draco was just horrible to all of us all throughout school. So the Weasleys and the Malfoys don’t have a lot of love lost between them.” Ginny laughed to herself and the sobered, looking Harry in the eyes.

“I don’t tell this to many people, because I never wanted it to define me. But I think you, of all people, will understand.” She took another deep breath. “The summer before my first year at Hogwarts we went shopping for books and other supplies. We saw the Malfoys at Diagon Alley and… well… I could never prove it after the fact, but Lucius Malfoy slipped something in with my supplies. It was a book – a diary, actually. Tom Riddle’s diary, to be exact.” She said all of this at a rush, as if to get it out before she could stop herself from telling him.

Harry’s jaw dropped. “But that diary – that was one of the horcruxes! Dumbledore told me that he destroyed it years before we found the rest of them.”

“Well, he did destroy it, but that was at the end of the school year,” Ginny said to the shocked expression on Harry’s face.

“You had a horcrux for an entire year before it was destroyed? The most I ever lasted with one was three days!”

Ginny gave him a self-deprecating smile. “Yes, well, I didn’t know what it was at the time. I was just a stupid little girl; I thought that it was an enchanted diary that was supposed to answer whoever wrote in it. I was nervous going into my first year – all of my brothers were there before me, and I had so much to live up to and – Tom became my friend.” Ginny suddenly became embarrassed with what she was saying and turned away from Harry’s curious expression.

“But soon he wasn’t just someone who would always answer, but he started talking to me from inside my head. And I would do things, and not remember having done them. People were being petrified… there was a basilisk hidden in the Chamber of Secrets that could kill with one glance… and I was letting it out. I set it on people – on Hermione, on my brother Percy’s girlfriend. All because Tom told me to.” She stopped talking and fought the urge to look up, scared of the disapproving look Harry probably had.

“So what happened?” he asked.

“I realized that something was wrong and managed to tell Ron, but Tom was angry. So he made me go down into the Chamber after writing my own farewell on the wall. I was down there for hours…” she trailed off, deep in thought, before picking up again. “But Ron told Dumbledore that something was wrong and Dumbledore figured it out. At one point I lost consciousness, and the next thing I remember was waking up to Dumbledore standing there, the basilisk dead and the diary destroyed. He told me later that it was a piece of Voldemort’s soul, and I didn’t even know the word ‘horcrux’ until I started training here.”

Silence hung in the air following her story, and Ginny bit her lip, waiting for Harry to say something.

“Wow,” he finally said, and she turned to look at him at last. Despite what she was expecting, he looked sad. “I had no idea that anyone else had to deal with Voldemort the way that I did. I… I know what it is like to have him in your head, and no one should ever have to feel that, especially not when you were so young.”

Ginny laughed softly. “Well, it wasn’t like I had a choice. I know that it was my own fault, and I should have realized that something was wrong earlier. But by the time I did, it was too late; he had such a strong hold on me that I couldn’t escape. Like I said, I was stupid. Anyone else would have realized there was something so evil inside them for so long.”

Harry considered her for a moment before answering. “Actually, it took me seventeen years to realize I was a horcrux.”

Ginny’s head snapped up in shock. “What? You _were_ one? I’ve never heard that before.”

“Well, it’s not something I tell to many people,” he said, echoing her earlier words. “But yeah, the night my parents were killed, a piece of Voldemort’s soul broke off and attached to me when his body was destroyed. So it was there all my life until the end of the war, when he killed it out of me.”

“Killed it out of you?” Ginny asked, amazed.

“Yes, I sort of semi-died during the Battle of Hogwarts, but I was able to come back because I was bound to life when Voldemort used my blood to regenerate his body.” Harry made a face when he realized that this very brief summary hardly told anything about what happened. Despite this, Ginny’s head was reeling, and it showed on her face. “I don’t really understand it either, but that’s how it worked,” Harry concluded.

Silence rested between them for a few moments while Ginny looked at him. Her expression softened considerably and she seemed to have repressed her previous emotions of insecurity in light of Harry's reveal. Slowly, she began to speak. “I guess the papers didn’t even cover half of what happened to you, did they, Harry?” He smiled at her use of his first name but shook his head.

“Sometimes it’s better if everyone doesn’t know what happened.” They locked eyes, both coming to the realization that they understood one another in a way that no one else had before.

“Well, anyway,” Ginny said, shaking her head as if to clear it, “that’s what I have against Lucius Malfoy.”

Harry started, “I had almost forgotten why we started this conversation. How come he never got in trouble for giving you the diary?”

“Like I said, I couldn’t prove that it was him. But I know it was, and he knows that I suspect him.”

“So you should want to see him arrested…” Harry began.

“Of course I do, Potter,” she said sharply, and Harry smiled at her return to formality. “But I can’t just arrest him on suspicion. He still holds far too much power in the Ministry and in the Wizarding World for me to come at him with nothing but my personal opinion.”

Harry began to refute her claim but was interrupted by the arrival of Seamus and Aaron. Ginny quickly turned away from Harry, running a hand through her hair as she tried to steady her emotions dragged up from the days of the Chamber. Seamus and Aaron stopped at her cubicle with piles of parchment in their hands.

“Witness statements,” Seamus said, placing his pile down on Ginny’s desk. “A few people heard the shouts from the scuffle but no one we talked to saw any of it, and there were no reports of a person running away.”

“But we do have this,” Aaron said, pulling the vial with Aberforth’s memory out of his pocket. “Aberforth Dumbledore gave me his memory of the entire night, that way we can see what the victim was doing and who else was in the pub.”

“Good, lets do that now,” Ginny said, seemingly back to normal, standing up and leading the team to the observation room filled with pensieves. Ginny took the vial and tipped the silver memory into the nearest basin and then plunged headfirst into it. The three wizards followed her. The four of them watched the night play out. The Aurors paid particular attention to Hapkirk, who sat in the corner with a drink, while Harry focused most of his attention on Lucius Malfoy, who was also there alone, seemingly reading the _Prophet_ the entire time. The memory lasted until Aberforth ran out see the commotion, but the killer was hidden in shadows as he ran, and the Aurors could not get a good look at him either.

The memory ended, and Ginny, Harry, Seamus, and Aaron found themselves back in the observation room. Before anyone else could react, Harry spoke up.

“Malfoy left before Hapkirk did, so he could have killed him!” Ginny rolled her eyes, but Seamus and Aaron looked confused.

“Potter is convinced that Lucius Malfoy is the killer,” Ginny explained to the two confused wizards, “all because Runcorn thought he saw someone with long blond hair pick up the letter. All we do know about the killer right now is that it is a man who is approximately six foot,” Ginny continued, putting an end to the Malfoy conversation.

“I can take the memory down to one of the Unspeakables in the morning,” Seamus said, “Maybe they can get us a clearer picture of the killer.”

“Thanks, Finnigan,” Ginny said. “We also need to find out about family, and see if there was anything going on in Hapkirk’s life that would make him the next target.”

“I’ll do that first thing tomorrow,” Aaron assured her. “We should also look for a connection between the two victims.”

“Good idea, I’ll tackle that,” Ginny confirmed as the group split up to go in different directions throughout the office. Ginny turned to tell Harry he could go home for the night, but he was ready with a question.

“Shouldn’t we find everyone who left the Hog’s Head before Hapkirk did? Don’t you need their alibis?”

Ginny smiled, knowing what he was trying to say. “All in due time, Potter. We don’t know for sure that it was anyone in the pub tonight. The killer could have been waiting outside the entire time. If we don’t get any other leads, that will be our next course of action.”

“But what if –”

“We cannot talk to Malfoy, Potter,” Ginny cut him off. “He will use anything I do against me; he’ll say that it was a personal attack. And if he turns out to have nothing to do with this crime, then everyone will think that he is right.”

“What if we get evidence against him?” Harry asked.

“How can we? Potter, if there is anything in his house or possession that is incriminating, we have no access to it. We cannot go in without a search warrant – which I can’t get without probable cause. And I still don’t have enough concrete reasons that will qualify for that.” Harry seemed to be considering this for a while. Suddenly, a smile crossed his face and his eyes lit up.

“I think I know how we can do this. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” With that, he waved goodbye to Seamus and Aaron and quickly left the Auror Office.


	7. Chapter 7

Amanda Hapkirk sat in a chair at her kitchen table, staring into the cup of tea that was clasped between her hands. Aaron knew that someone had notified her of her husband’s death the night before, but he now had the difficult job of talking to her and finding out if she suspected anyone specific of killing her husband. Aaron looked down at his own cup of tea and tried to imagine how he would feel if someone had told him that his wife had been killed. He couldn’t quite manage to figure it out.

“I’m so sorry, Auror Mathews,” Amanda started, finally looking up at Aaron. “It’s just so difficult to wrap my head around.”

“Please, call me Aaron,” he began. “And there is nothing to be sorry about. I can’t even imagine what you are going through right now.”

“Do –” Amanda began and then stopped, taking a deep breath before starting again. “Do you know who killed him?”

“Not right now, but we were hoping that you could shed some light on the situation. Was there anything strange going on in Charlie’s life lately?”

“No,” she sobbed, pulling her straight black hair away from her face and into a messy ponytail. “He seemed fine. I can’t imagine that it was anything at work, he worked with Muggles! I never thought that a career like that would put him in any danger.” She seemed to be overcome with emotion, so Aaron let her collect herself before he continued his questions. “We have a daughter, she is only two years old. How can I tell her that her daddy isn’t coming home?”

Aaron didn’t have an answer for that. “The best that we can do now for you and your daughter, and for Charlie, is to find out who killed him.” Amanda nodded her understanding. “Did he have any enemies? Any fights with someone lately?”

Amanda thought about it for a moment before answering. “No, not that I recall.” Aaron sighed, afraid that it would turn out to be another random murder.

“Does the name Duncan Clarke sound familiar to you?”

Amanda shook her head. “I don’t think I have ever heard of him – do you think he killed Charlie?”

“No, he definitely isn’t Charlie’s killer, he was murdered a few nights ago.” Aaron’s answer seemed to make Amanda even more confused. He decided to move on to another angle.

“Did Charlie participate in any of the fights during the war?” Amanda looked surprised at that question.

“I don’t really know. We were out of touch during that time. You see, we went to Hogwarts together, but I stayed with some family in Canada to escape the worst years of the war, and I didn’t meet up with Charlie again until a few years after it ended. We never really talked about it...” she trailed off with a strange look on her face. Suddenly, she burst out, “He wasn’t a Death Eater if that is what you are asking!” Amanda seemed to think that her lack of knowledge about Charlie’s wartime efforts would reflect badly on him.

“That isn’t what we were thinking at all, Mrs. Hapkirk,” Aaron tried to assure her. “It’s just that his murder seems to have some connection to Harry Potter, so I was wondering if he supported him during the war.”

“Harry Potter?” Amanda asked. “I don’t think Charlie ever even met him, why would someone kill Charlie because of Harry Potter?”

“We aren’t sure right now, but there was another murder that occurred the same way…”

“What way? What did they do to him?” Amanda seemed to be reaching hysteria.

Aaron realized that he was revealing too much, but he felt that Amanda should know what happened to her husband. “It appears that this killer is targeting Harry Potter, and used your husband and one other victim as a message to him, and to us.”

Amanda was shocked. “So it wasn’t even about him? He had nothing to do with Harry Potter, or the war. He…” she trailed off, thinking. “Charlie got a message in the post the other day. He said it was nothing, but he was upset about it. Maybe…”

“Could you get me the message?” Aaron asked, hoping this would lead them in the correct direction. Amanda stood and went into the other room; Aaron could hear her rummaging around in a drawer before she returned, clutching a small piece of parchment.

“I wish I realized there was something wrong before…” Amanda trailed off, and gave the parchment to Aaron. He looked down and read the brief message:

_I know you know, and you know too much._

~~~

“I’ve got the perfect plan,” Harry took a seat in the char next to Ginny’s cubicle and smiled winningly.

“I can only imagine,” Ginny began; putting down the parchment she was reading and turning to face him, preparing herself to hear his story. She had spent the night worrying about what Harry had come up and how many laws he would break in the process.

“So you can’t get a search warrant to find evidence without probable cause, and we cannot arrest Malfoy without evidence, correct?” When Ginny nodded he continued. “So I say we get the evidence without a search warrant.”

“What?” Ginny gasped. “Potter, that is illegal! What are you suggesting: that we break into Malfoy Manor and search the place?”

“Possibly, but there will be no breaking and entering, just some snooping around,” Harry began his explanation. “Listen, I’ve been inside Malfoy Manor before, I was even held captive in the dungeons for a brief period of time. I’m sure I could find my way around again. And if not, I know someone who can tell me about that place, inside and out.”

“And who is that?” Ginny asked.

“Dobby,” Harry said, matter of fact, but elaborated in response to Ginny’s puzzled look. “He is a house-elf. Well, he is my house-elf, but he used to work for the Malfoys. He knows that place better than anyone else in the world.”

“How did Malfoy’s elf end up working for you?” Ginny asked skeptically.

“It’s a long story,” Harry brushed it aside. “But Dobby knows all of the secret hiding places in that house, so he can tell me where Malfoy could be stashing evidence.”

“Alright,” Ginny said slowly, trying to make sense of his garbled explanation, “but how do you propose you are going to get into Malfoy Manor without breaking in. I already told you that we can’t just approach him.”

Harry smiled. “Malfoy is always home, unless of course, he is here. So how could anyone sneak around without him noticing?” When Ginny continued to look puzzled after Harry’s question, he answered his own question. “If he has enough other distractions. Someone would notice if I snuck in the back. But if I just walk through the front door…”

This time, Ginny smiled. “And how are you going to just walk through the front door of Malfoy Manor and expect Lucius Malfoy to be too distracted to notice you snooping around?”

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment. “With this.” He handed it to Ginny and she read it. It was an invitation to Malfoy’s monthly gala, which would be held that weekend.

“You were invited to Malfoy’s gala?” she asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.

“Of course I was. I’m invited to everything. I get one of these every month, but I make it a point of never going. But I think that is just the opportunity to change that tradition, what do you think?” Ginny began to smile at the simple genius of the plan when a sudden thought struck her.

“Potter, you are a civilian. Do you have any idea how much trouble you could get into if you were caught doing this?”

“Well first of all, I wouldn’t get caught. Trust me, I’ve done crazier things and gotten away with them. And second, I wasn’t planning on going alone. I assumed if an official Auror were with me, it would go much smoother,” Harry concluded, smiling.

“What are you saying?”

“Ginny Weasley, would you like to be my date for the gala?” Ginny didn’t answer; instead she raised one eyebrow questioningly. “Oh, come on, don’t make me ask Finnigan. The rumors in the tabloids can be so harmful to my reputation.” Harry slid off his and onto his knees in front of Ginny, clasping his hands in front of him in a begging position.

Ginny burst out laughing. “I can’t believe I am saying this,” she began, “but fine, I’ll go with you. If only to keep you out of major trouble.”

“Oh how sweet, you do care about me,” Harry responded with a grin, sitting back in his chair.

“In your dreams, Potter,” Ginny shook her head and returned her attention to the parchment on the desk in front of her.

“No, actually, in my dreams you are a little more – OUCH!” he called out, as Ginny’s Stinging Hex hit its target.

Having secured their plans for the weekend, Ginny focused her attention on the parchment in front of her. Harry rubbed his shoulder as the effect of her hex faded away and peered over the desk to see what was written there.

“What are you reading?” he asked.

“I’m trying to find a connection between the two victims, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that links them. Their time at Hogwarts only overlapped by two years. One was a Hufflepuff, the other a Ravenclaw. Hapkirk played on the Quidditch team, Clarke ran the Charms club,” Ginny sighed deeply. “It doesn’t appear that they ran in any of the same circles. Even after school, the most they have in common is a job here at the Ministry.” 

Harry looked excited about that, but Ginny shook her head. “The majority of wizards and witches in England work at the Ministry! We cannot assume they knew each other here, even as small an interaction as once eating at the same table in the café.”

She turned and pointed to a pile of parchment at the corner of her desk. “I even pulled old files from war trials – they weren’t witnesses in _any_ of the Death Eater trials that took place. I can’t place either of them at any of the major battles during the last two years of the war… I’m really starting to think they were randomly chosen.” Ginny leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, placing her hands on her forehead.

“Well don’t, because they weren’t,” Aaron came rushing into the office, his cloak undone and streaming behind him, waving a piece of parchment in the air. Ginny immediately jumped out of her chair. “At least Hapkirk wasn’t chosen at random. Look at this.” He handed the parchment to Ginny and went to fetch Seamus from the break room.

Ginny read the single line on the parchment and passed it off to Harry. Her face lit up. “This is great, maybe we can find an answer with this after all.” Aaron returned with Seamus, who was holding a half eaten doughnut and a mug of tea. “Mathews, will you take this parchment to Diggory, see if he can find anything on it, or anything connecting it to the original letter?” Aaron nodded.

“Forgot to tell you,” Seamus piped up as he shoved the remains of the doughnut in his mouth. “I spoke with Alaina from the Department of Mysteries,” he waggled his eyebrows, “And she said she will see what she can do with the memory. There might be a result by this weekend.”

“Wonderful!” Ginny said. “And you should be happy, Finnigan, you can visit her again to get the results.”

“You won’t be taking over and spoiling my fun?” Seamus asked skeptically.

“Actually, I already have plans with Potter for this weekend.” Seamus and Aaron looked at each other and grinned.

“Oh, really? Is there something you two want to tell us?” Aaron asked. Seamus winked at Harry.

“Not particularly,” Ginny responded before Harry had a chance to. “Since Potter is so convinced of Malfoy’s guilt, we are going to his gala to try and find some evidence against him.” Aaron looked disappointed at the answer, Seamus simply looked like he didn’t believe her.

“So, you two are off on a hot date to the party of the month, huh?” Seamus asked.

“I wish.”

“Shut it, Finnigan.”

Both Harry and Ginny answered at the same time, eliciting wider grins from Seamus and Aaron.

“Whatever you say, Weasley.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “In the meantime, can one of you go see if there is a letter like this in Clarke’s possession. Maybe this will be a connection between the two victims that we are waiting for.”

~~~

They had, in fact, found a matching letter in Clarke’s flat, which Ginny believed would be the break in the case that they desperately needed. Both letters, along with the original threat addressed to Harry, were with Cedric Diggory, who promised to have some result by the end of the weekend. 

Harry scowled at the thought of Diggory, who, despite Ginny’s protestations, was obviously interested in the attractive Auror. He became angrier thinking about Cedric’s obnoxious smile and the fact that he had managed to ignore everyone else in the room just because Ginny was there. Harry had received no sympathy when he complained to Remus; he found it funny, saying that Harry was just angry that he wasn’t the center of the attention like he usually is. 

But Harry knew that it was more than that. He couldn’t care less if Cedric Diggory was impressed by him but he didn’t like the idea that Ginny was interested, in whatever context, in what Diggory had to say. It cheered him slightly to think that Ginny had known Diggory for years and nothing had come of it, so it was highly unlikely that they would get together now, especially with Harry’s plans for the weekend.

Harry smiled at the idea of what would be happening in a few days time, earning some odd stares from the people on the street around him. Harry walked down Diagon Alley, avoiding making eye contact with anyone so that he would not be distracted from his mission of the day. There were no new developments in the case and Ginny was back at the Auror Office doing paperwork, an activity Harry had absolutely no interest in participating in. Instead, he had taken the afternoon off to run some errands in preparation of the party that would take place the next evening.

He had just left Twilfitt and Tatting where he had made two rather expensive clothing purchases, but he was confident that this action would finally lead to him winning favor with Ginny Weasley.

A sudden movement to Harry’s right sent him into high alert, and he jumped, pulling out his wand and spinning to face the attacker. The attacker turned out to be two small children racing each other down the alley, and Harry stowed his wand back in his robes and continued down the street, ignoring the questioning stares. The treat against his life had greatly worried him, and he was upset to find that the guards that were up during the war – his suspicion of being attacked at any moment – had returned.

Harry’s frown had returned by the time he reached his final destination, and he looked up at the grand entrance of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. The bright orange exterior gleamed blindingly in the afternoon sun and Harry squinted to make out the posters in the window advertising new products.

The overhead bell jingled as Harry opened the door and stepped over the threshold. The store was filled with people, mostly young children who were not yet old enough for Hogwarts. Harry looked around at the shelves filled with games and pranks but could not find the proprietors of the shop among the throngs of customers. He approached the counter and looked up at the wall. A huge portrait hung over the register; the image of a laughing young man grinned down at Harry. He regarded it closely, easily seeing the family resemblance between Ginny and her brother.

“Handsome chap, isn’t he?” questioned a voice from behind Harry. He turned around quickly to see who it was. “Although I still say I was the better looking twin. George Weasley.” George held his hand out to Harry as he introduced himself and they shook. Harry began to introduce himself, but George cut him off. “Don’t bother, you’re Harry Potter, we all know it. It’s good to meet you.”

“You as well,” Harry responded, shaking George’s hand. “It’s a great store you’ve got here.”

George grinned. “My pride and joy,” he said, turning away from Harry to survey the busy store and all its customers. Suddenly, he turned sharply back to Harry. “Can I interest you in any product in particular?” he asked. George pointed to the far corner of the store. “Over there are the Skiving Snackboxes, our most popular item. But that is for the younger crowd, looking to get out of class. Not for a bloke like you.” He moved to point at the next item. “You might like a Weasley Patented Daydream Charm, always enjoyable, if I do say so myself. We just stocked the newest one, designed by Ron actually…. Oi, Ron!”

At his call, another red-headed man turned away from a customer deciding on trick wands and walked over. Ron was significantly taller than George and looked less like Ginny than the twins did, but his smile was just as welcoming. George performed the introductions as if Harry and he were old friends and Ron only stared at Harry for a moment before regaining his senses.

“Ron…” Harry began, struggling to remember why this brother stood out in particular. “That’s right,” he said in realization, “you shared a dorm with Seamus at Hogwarts.”

Ron looked confused, but nodded anyway. “That’s right, but how do you know Seamus?” he asked.

“I’ve been working with the Auror Office,” Harry started, unsure what details about the case he was aloud to reveal and what was supposed to be confidential. That seemed to be enough for Ron.

“So you must have met Ginny too,” Ron said, instinctively ducking as a fanged Frisbee glanced the top of his head.

Harry grinned. “Yes, I definitely know your sister.” George laughed loudly but covered it up with a cough, grabbing the Frisbee from out of the air and twirling it around in his hands.

“I can’t believe our baby sister would keep something like this from us,” he began, turning to Ron. “Can you?”

Ron shrugged. “Of course Ginny would. I’m more surprised Hermione didn’t tell me.”

This time Harry was taken aback. “You know Hermione?” he asked.

At this, both George and Ron burst into laughter. While they calmed down, Harry started to realize exactly how much he had missed out on by not going to Hogwarts for his education. Ron finally caught his breath enough to answer Harry’s question.

“Of course I know Hermione, she’s my fiancé,” he said with a wide smile.

“Really?” Harry asked, a smile spreading across his face as well. “Well, congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Ron said. He stood smiling for a moment before George slapped him on the shoulder and started laughing. Ron snapped out of his trance and blushed bright red. “So, was there anything in particular you wanted to get here, Harry? Or did he just stop by for a chat?” he asked, trying to stop George from making fun of him.

“Actually, I did have something in mind…”

~~~

It was now Saturday afternoon, hours before Malfoy’s gala, and Ginny sat on her bed wearing a pair of jeans and a grey muggle sweatshirt. Around her lay multiple sets of dress robes along with various pages from _Witch Weekly_ and _Style Sorceress_ showing pictures of the wizarding elite, dressed to the nines to attend parties like the one Ginny was preparing for.

Hermione entered Ginny’s room and looked around. “It looks like a twister hit this place,” she remarked, laughing.

Ginny groaned and flopped back onto the bed sending a set of robes fluttering to the floor. “This isn’t funny, Hermione, I have nothing to wear!”

Hermione only laughed harder at how un-Ginny her best friend was acting. “And since when do you really care what you wear? Could it be that you actually want to impress someone there tonight?” Ginny sent her a glare from her prone position on the bed.

“Yes, Hermione, I want Draco Malfoy to fall madly in love with me tonight. Honestly,” Ginny shook her head, “It’s just, you know that there will be photographers there and, well, I’ve never done anything like this before! I’m going to be so out of place; Weasleys aren’t invited to society events for a reason, you know.” She covered her face with her hands and let out a moan.

“Yes, because these parties are dreadfully dull, and the Weasley family is anything but,” Hermione sat down carefully at the edge of the bed, shifting aside a set of light blue dress robes to avoid wrinkling them. “But you have to be looking forward to this slightly.”

“Oh yes, an evening of law breaking while being ridiculed by the Malfoys and on the arm of England’s Most _Confidently Arrogant_ Bachelor is exactly my idea of a good time,” Ginny responded sarcastically.

“Sure sounds like it,” Hermione said. “So is Harry going to be picking you up here?”

“Hermione, this is not a date, despite what everyone else seems to think,” Ginny responded sharply. “I had to draw the line somewhere. I am going to pick him up at his flat, and make sure that he doesn’t bring a muggle Taser with him to attack Malfoy with – I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Hermione laughed, but refrained from saying anything else about Harry. It was obvious to her that Ginny was looking forward to this event more than she would admit to. Instead, Hermione changed the subject back to clothes. “Would you like to borrow something of mine to wear?”

Ginny sat up and looked at Hermione. “Thanks, but I hardly think anything will fit. I’m so much shorter than you are and there is no time to alter a pair of robes.” She picked up a set of deep purple robes and groaned again, “I’m going to look like a court jester in these!”

Just then, there was a tap on the window. Ginny stood and found a handsome brown owl carrying a rather large parcel hovering outside. She opened the window and the bird swooped inside, depositing the package on the bed and leaving the room in one motion. Ginny looked from the package to Hermione and back again, unsure of what to do.

“Go on, open it,” Hermione ordered.

Ginny walked over to the bed and removed the small scroll of parchment from the ribbon. It read: _For you, for tonight –H¬_. Ginny looked at the wrapping, it was from Twilfitt and Tatting – an expensive clothing store she had visited only once before. She knew she could not afford even half a set of robes that they sold there. Ginny slowly unwrapped it to reveal what was inside. She and Hermione gasped simultaneously.

Ginny stared inside disbelievingly, “He didn’t…”

~~~

A sharp knock on Harry’s front door startled him from the intense game of chess he was playing with Teddy Lupin. He checked his watch and quickly adjusted his robes, glancing at his reflection in the hall mirror quickly before answering the door.

Ginny stood at the threshold, practically shining. Harry’s jaw dropped slightly as he looked her up and down slowly. The shimmering gold robes that he had bought the day before in Diagon Alley fit Ginny perfectly, clinging to her every curve while the loose cape flowed gently behind her. Her long red hair was drawn up in an elegant style, the gold color of the robes perfectly accentuating the copper highlights that weaved through her hair.

When she began to smirk, Harry realized he was still staring with his mouth open. He shut it quickly and leaned against the doorframe casually. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Ginny said, blushing slightly. “But, Potter, these robes are extravagant. You didn’t have to buy them for me.”

“I know,” he replied. “I wanted to.” They stood regarding each other for another moment until Harry remembered his manners. “Would you like to come in? I’m just about ready to leave.”

Ginny laughed as she followed him through the door. “Shouldn’t that really be my line – making you wait while I get ready?”

“Well, if you had let me pick you up, like the gentleman I am, it could have been.” Harry smiled at her.

The sound of a throat clearing behind them pulled them out of their trance. Remus Lupin stood there laughing, and Teddy was sitting on the floor looking confused, holding the broken pieces of his previously destroyed white knight.

“Care to perform an introduction, Harry?” Remus asked.

“Of course. Remus, this is Auror Ginny Weasley. Weasley, this is Remus Lupin, my – well, my best friend. And this here is his son Teddy, my godson.” Ginny smiled warmly at the two of them. “Teddy really wanted to come and see me get dressed up, so I was entertaining him for a while until you came.”

Ginny stood watching while Harry rushed over to the young boy and lifted him up, swinging him around and tickling him before setting him back on the ground, sending the chess pieces running for cover. Teddy laughed hysterically before jumping up and hugging Harry tightly. They both turned around to see Ginny smiling widely.

“What?” Harry asked, self-consciously flattening his hair.

“I just never pictured you with children, that’s all,” she responded lightly. Harry smiled.

“Thinking domestically already, Weasley? Teddy loves me, isn’t that right, kiddo?” He reached down and ruffled Teddy’s bright blue hair. Teddy nodded and approached Ginny.

“You look pretty,” he said sweetly, making Ginny break out into a grin.

“Why thank you, kind sir,” she said, mock curtsying to him. “Are you ready to go yet?” she asked, turning back to face Harry.

He reached over and grabbed his invisibility cloak off the couch. “Yes, ma’am.”

Ginny regarded him curiously. “What are you doing with an invisibility cloak?”

“If we need to sneak around, we will need to be hidden. Don’t worry, it’s a good cloak, it even blocks some hexes – like your jackets!”

Ginny shook her head. “No, you don’t need that to become invisible. Besides, we don’t have anywhere to put an invisibility cloak. Just grab your wand and let’s go.”

Harry put the cloak back down and they both said goodnight to Remus and Teddy, watching as they used the Floo to go home. Harry ushered Ginny out the door and set the locking charms behind him. He turned to face her as they prepared to Apparate.

“Wait a moment, you don’t have a purse… where is your wand?” Harry asked.

Ginny smirked at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”


	8. Chapter 8

Ginny was uncomfortable. 

It wasn’t the gorgeous golden dress robes that had arrived at her flat not even an hour ago. Nor, much to her surprise, was it the man standing next to her. Instead, it was the number of cameras that were flashing and billowing out smoke in her face. Normally to Ginny, a large affair was a gathering of her family members, not a fancy gala with the wizarding elite. Her plastered on smile was beginning to hurt, and she turned slightly toward Harry so she could murmur out of the side of her mouth.

“Do they need to take so many pictures, Potter?”

“I don’t tell them what to do, I just go along with it. Don’t worry Weasley, they choose the best one to put on the cover of the paper.” He turned and winked at her. “And how about, just for tonight, we put aside the formalities and you call me Harry?”

Ginny responded with a grimace and a quiet grunt as she turned to allow the press to take one more picture. After that, she turned on her heel, grabbed Harry’s arm, and pulled him through the entranceway and into Malfoy Manor.

The house, just like the Malfoys themselves, was flashy and over-the-top. A large security troll had greeted them at the front gate, and the path to the front door of the mansion was lined with trees whose leaves had been charmed to twinkle in a permanent silver powder, like stars in the night sky. The evening was beautiful, and the guests on the side patio mingled with the albino peacocks that strutted around the lawn. The press had set up camp at the front door, taking photos of every witch or wizard they recognized as they entered the party. Just before Harry and Ginny had walked through, Myron Wagtail, the lead singer of The Weird Sisters, had entered with a broomstick thin witch on his arm.

Just past the _Daily Prophet_ photographer, Harry and Ginny found themselves in an entrance hall buzzing with people. Ginny swiveled her head around quickly, taking in as much as she could. The entirety of her childhood home, the Burrow, could have fit into this one room! Surrounding her were famous faces as well as wealthy Ministry members, all dressed to impress. As much as she regretted thinking it, Ginny was beyond grateful that Harry had thought ahead and bought her the robes she was currently wearing. She would have just made a fool of herself showing up in anything she owned.

Ginny turned her head slightly to look at her date for the evening. Harry was observing the crowd as well, but with a look of unveiled distaste rather than awe. He seemed at ease with the situation, and he definitely looked the part of a distinguished wealthy wizard. His jet-black robes were obviously new and expensive, and expertly tailored to fit his frame. However Harry seemed to have done nothing else to his appearance to prepare for the night. His hair was the same tousled mess it had been every day he came to the Auror Office and his infamous glasses were perched slightly crookedly on the bridge of his nose. But his eyes were gleaming with an air of mischief and excitement, and this was enough to make Ginny inexplicably excited for the evening, and even a little light-headed.

Harry turned to look at her and the look of distaste disappeared, replaced with a wide smile. He reached down and grabbed two glasses of champaign off the tray of a passing house-elf and handed one to her.

“Here’s to us, Ginny,” he said, clinking his glass to hers lightly and taking a sip. Ginny smiled and did the same. “So,” he began, drawing out the word, “since we aren’t on duty for a few moments, why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”

Ginny burst out laughing at the obvious line. “Harry, I already told you about my first year at Hogwarts, something I tell hardly anyone in the world. What else could I possibly have to reveal?”

“It doesn’t have to be deep and depressing,” he answered with an innocuous roll of his eyes. “Or you could ask me something. Anything you want to.”

Ginny considered him for a moment, trying to choose the most interesting topic. She settled on the newest one, and one that really intrigued her. “Tell me about Teddy. You two seem close.”

At the mention of the young boy, Harry’s smile spread even wider. “He’s great, isn’t he? I guess he is like the little brother I never had. You see, Remus and Sirius raised me ever since my parents died, and when Remus got married to Tonks, I finally felt like my family was growing.” His smile became sad, and Ginny decided to ask a question.

“Tonks? Like Nymphadora Tonks, the former Auror?”

“The one and only. She was great.” Harry smiled wistfully. “But she died, just like Sirius, during the Battle of Hogwarts. Teddy was only one month old at the time. I felt like it was my story happening all over again…” he trailed off slowly before finding his train of thought again. “But at least he still has his father and he has me, whatever that is worth.” He gave Ginny a self-deprecating smile.

“I think it’s worth a lot.”

Ginny surprised herself with that comment and froze. They locked eyes for a prolonged moment, and the tension between them began to grow. Ginny quickly changed the topic and began talking about her own family – telling stories of her brothers and her young niece, Victoire. She was just beginning to tell Harry about Ron’s decision to join George in business after the war when they were interrupted by a snide voice.

“What imbecile made the mistake to let a _Weasley_ into my house?”

Ginny whipped her head around quickly to see the sour face of Draco Malfoy. Harry’s restraining hand on her arm stopped Ginny from pulling her wand just in time. She took a deep breath before addressing him.

“Malfoy. It’s,” she forced herself to say the next few words, “a _pleasure_ to see you again.”

Draco scoffed. “I won’t even bother lying and saying the same. But like I said, Weasley, you definitely weren’t invited to this party, so why are you here?”

Harry stepped forward. “She’s here with me. I received an invitation to this… affair,” he said in his best disdainful voice, clearly trying to imitate Draco’s tone. “And I brought a date. You may never have experienced this phenomenon, but it is actually an activity that some people enjoy.” Ginny bit back her laughter.

Draco’s eyes widened as he realized exactly whom it was that was standing next to Ginny. “But you’re Potter… Harry Potter,” he appeared to be trying to piece together a sentence. Instead, he reached out his hand to shake Harry’s. Harry shook it quickly and then noticeably wiped his palm against his robes. This time, Ginny did not even try to hide her smile.

“I don’t understand. How do you know Harry Potter?” Draco addressed his question to Ginny, his confusion evident on his face.

“That is exactly what I was wondering,” Lucius Malfoy’s voice was filled with venom as he came to stand behind his son. The Malfoy men were matching in midnight blue robes. Ginny supposed that some witches would be impressed with the obvious wealth and confidence that they exuded, but she felt rather sick at the sight of them. Lucius appraised her slowly, looking her up and down. He couldn’t seem to find anything particular to insult; rather he seemed a little two impressed with the way she looked. She stiffened under his gaze, uncomfortable and angry. Harry seemed to notice because he slid his free hand around her waist and pulled her in closer to him, glaring at the older Malfoy at the same time.

“Ginny and I met earlier this week at the St. Mungo’s luncheon and we’ve spent every day together since. Isn’t that right, dear?” Harry turned to look at her.

Ginny smiled at the truthfulness of the statement he had made. “Absolutely, darling,” she countered, watching the surprise on Lucius’s face.

“And how did you get invited to a party like that? It isn’t like you are an important person, Weasley,” said Lucius, his sneer becoming more pronounced. Ginny tensed, prepared for a fight, but Harry pulled her back again.

“That’s right, Weasley,” Draco continued, glancing quickly at Harry’s hand at her waist before looking back at her, “Don’t you work for the Ministry, like your useless father? I guess even the Harpies didn’t want someone like you.”

Probably sensing that Ginny was about to explode, Harry squeezed her slightly and interrupted the attack. “It’s been a blast, truly, but we must be going. I need to speak with someone over there.” He waved his hand in the general direction of the parlor, and quickly steered Ginny away from the father and son. Ginny took a few deep breaths as they walked away and finally calmed down by the time they entered the parlor, where elegantly dressed couples swirled around on the makeshift dance floor.

Ginny took a step away from Harry and he quickly dropped his hand from her waist, bringing it up to run through his hair. “Let’s just get this over with, Harry. Let’s find something incriminating and get out of here.”

Harry smiled at her obvious desire to suspect Malfoy – despite what she had been saying for the past few days – but checked quickly over his shoulder before answering. “I am all for it, but the Malfoys are still watching us. They’ll see if we disappear.”

Ginny sighed, “It’s all because of me. You probably would have blended into the crowd better had you actually brought Seamus.”

Harry laughed loudly. “Perhaps, but then we would have looked peculiar with my next request. Care to dance, Ginny?” Harry held out his hand in a formal position. Ginny studied him closely, considering her options. She thought about Lucius and Draco Malfoy and how terrible people could be, and how Harry had actually been charming and sincere to her the entire evening. Tossing away her worries, Ginny smiled, nodded, and grabbed his hand.

The quartet orchestra was playing a classic song, and Harry pulled her into a simple waltz. He kept their hands clasped together and replaced his other hand on his waist as she let her free hand fall onto his shoulder. Ginny looked up at Harry to see him studying her intensely as he moved through the steps of the dance with a practiced ease. He cleared his throat quickly. “So, Harpies?” he questioned.

Ginny laughed lightly. “It was a well known fact back at Hogwarts that I wanted to join the Holyhead Harpies after I finished school. But Malfoy was just making fun of me.”

“So you’re a good Quidditch player?” Harry asked.

“The best!” Ginny said proudly, and then blushed. “At least, that’s what my brothers tell me. I did want to go pro; I think that would have been amazing. And some of the scouts actually told me that I could make it, so I guess I’m not that bad a player.”

“So why didn’t you do it?” Harry led Ginny into a spin and then pulled her back to him, closer than she was before. She pulled back half a step.

“I told you about what happened after Fred died…” She looked down before continuing. “I thought that doing something as meaningless as playing Quidditch for a living wouldn’t do any good in the world. And after all the horrors from the war, I felt the world needed a little fixing.”

“Well, I for one am glad that you became an Auror,” Harry said sincerely, spinning her again.

“And why’s that?”

“If not, we may never have met. And I can’t complain about that.” Ginny blushed spectacularly again and didn’t bother hiding her smile or her playful eye roll. This time when Harry pulled her in closer, she didn’t fight it.

“Do you play any Quidditch?” she asked.

Harry smiled proudly. “Sirius used to say I was a natural, just like my dad was. It’s too bad I never went to Hogwarts; maybe we would have played together. Just think about what the celebratory parties could have been like.”

Ginny laughed, “No doubt you would have made a scene and drawn everyone’s attention.” Harry shrugged. “But maybe when we aren’t searching for a killer, the two of us could play.”

A grin slowly spread across Harry’s face. “I would love to play with you.” The intensity of his gaze made her feel like he wasn’t even talking about Quidditch. “But look at this, Auror Weasley, you are making plans to spend time with me away from this case. I must be making quite the impression tonight.”

“Maybe you are, Harry Potter. Maybe you are.”

~~~

A little over an hour later Ginny had met an endless stream of Harry’s acquaintances and had finally convinced herself that the Malfoys had stopped watching her every move. She grabbed Harry by the hand and pulled him towards the edge of the room, taking his plate with a remaining piece of blancmange out of his hands and placing it on a side table.

“Hey!” Harry started, turning to look at her. “I was eating that.”

“You can get a piece later, we need to do what we came here for.” She pulled him behind her as she weaved through the crowd of people until they emerged in a deserted corridor. She turned to Harry. “You said that you know the way around. So where are we going?”

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment covered in his messy handwriting. He squinted at it, turned it sideways, and looked around at the various doors off the corridor. Ginny glanced at the parchment and saw small diagrams of the halls of Malfoy Manor, apparently as described by Dobby the house-elf.

“Malfoy is not stupid. He knows that the Aurors could come looking in his house at any moment. If he is involved in this, then he would make sure not to leave anything lying around in the open,” Harry said. “Dobby told me that there is a secret vault in one of the spare bedrooms. We need to find our way upstairs.” Harry started down the hall toward a staircase. They climbed slowly, taking care not to make any noise that would draw attention to them.

At the first floor landing they were faced with a long corridor lined with identical black doors. Harry looked down at his parchment guide and began counting the number of rooms.

Ginny suddenly heard voices at the opposite end of the corridor, but it was cloaked in darkness and she could not see who was coming. Ginny grabbed Harry’s arm and pulled him toward the wall, pulling her wand out of her robes at the same time. 

“Someone’s coming,” she whispered to him, casting two quick Disillusionment Charms over their heads. As the cooling sensation melted over her head, she felt Harry’s hand slip into her own.

“So we don’t lose one another,” he said and they stood with their backs against the wall as the voices grew louder. Two burly security wizards dressed in solid black emerged from the darkness, obviously patrolling the corridors for errant party guests. Their loud discussion about the current Quidditch standings made Ginny believe that they did not suspect anything. The two wizards passed by Ginny and Harry without a glance and began to climb the stairs to the second floor.

Ginny let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding when she heard their footsteps start along the corridor directly above them.

“It’s the fifth door on the left,” Harry whispered, squeezing her invisible hand. He began moving and dragged Ginny along; she could see the ripples of movement from his camouflaged body in front of her. Harry reached the bedroom door and carefully eased it open, and the two of them entered the room. It was decorated elaborately like the rest of the house but gave no indication that there was anything hidden in a secret vault. Pointing her wand over her shoulder, Ginny cast a locking charm on the door, ensuring that they would not be interrupted without knowing someone was coming.

Ginny tapped each of their heads and undid the Disillusionment Charms, watching as Harry came back into focus. She slowly slid her hand out of his, smiling slightly at the disappointed look on his face as she did so. Instead of commenting, she pulled the parchment from his hand and looked at it.

“So where is the vault hidden?” she asked, trying to decipher his illegible scrawl.

“Dobby said that I need to –” he stopped talking as he approached a bookcase filled with old tomes. When he waved his wand, the bookcase swung forward and revealed a steal door built into the wall.

“Wow,” Ginny said, drawing out the word. “Cliché, no?”

“Maybe it is so obvious, it gets overlooked,” Harry responded, studying the lock. He waved his wand quickly and muttered, “ _Alohomora_!” but the door remained firmly shut. He turned back to look at Ginny. “Any ideas on how to get in?”

“Didn’t think this through, eh, Potter?” she asked with a smirk, reaching up and pulling one of the barrettes from her hair.

“Don’t tell me you are going to pick the lock, muggle style.”

Ginny laughed. “You never know, it might work. But no, this is a little different.” She attached the clip to the lock and taped it lightly with her wand. Both of them watched as the tumblers began to spin rapidly, falling into place with a satisfying click. Ginny reached forward and removed the clip and swung the door open. “This,” she held up the barrette, “is a Safe Cracker. Another one of George and Ron’s ideas. It can open any lock, no matter how magically protected it is. And it comes easily disguised as an accessory.” She slid it back into place in her hair. “I thought it might come in handy.”

“So had I brought Finnigan, he would have worn that in his hair?”

Ginny laughed again, “No, he could have just put it in his pocket. Although, I wouldn’t put it past Seamus to do that.”

“Speaking of pockets, where did you pull your wand from? Those robes don’t have pockets,” Harry asked with a small smile.

Ginny smirked but did not answer; instead she turned away from him and walked into the hidden room. Harry shook his head in disbelief and followed Ginny into the vault. 

It was a large room, larger than Ginny had expected, and was filled with shelves cluttered with glittering valuables. Ginny and Harry separated, searching through the belongings for evidence of a connection to the murder. Ginny looked for the glint of the knife that was used to carve the scars, but was distracted by the shine of thousands of Galleons worth of gems and golden knickknacks. Ginny sifted through the items, finding nothing incriminating, but stopping often to admire certain pieces.

She turned to Harry to discover that he was not even attracted to the glitter and glitz at all. Instead, he was intently studying one particular shelf filled with what appeared to be old and worn objects. It was the only area of the vault that was not shining brightly. Ginny walked over to stand beside him.

“Are you finding anything?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he answered, gesturing to the items in front of him. “Something about these things just feels off, you know?” He reached forward to grab a dusty grey necklace, but Ginny shot forward and grabbed his wrist, pulling him back.

“No!” she shouted, scanning her wand over the items and muttering a quick diagnostic spell. “These are pulsing with Dark Magic.” An eerie black mist hovered over the shelf as a result of her spell, indicating extreme amounts Dark Magic in the area. Ginny grinned, “This is perfect! All we have to do now is –”

“Shh!” Harry cut her off, gesturing toward the door to the bedroom. Footsteps could be heard in the corridor, most likely the security wizards, but they couldn’t be certain. Ginny quickly pushed Harry out of the vault and eased the door shut behind her, and Harry pulled the bookcase back in place. They knelt by the door and listened to the footsteps slowly fade until they could be heard once again on the floor above.

Once again, Ginny cast Disillusionment Charms on the two of them and grabbed hold of Harry, opening the door at the same time. Checking that the coast was clear, she pulled Harry out, shut the door behind her, and hurried down the hallway. They rushed down the stairs and back into the ground floor corridor, where the sounds of the party could once again be heard.

Ginny waved her wand and canceled the Charms, feeling the rush of warmth starting from the top of her head down to her toes. Turning away from Harry, she stowed her wand deep in her robes before starting back toward the party. She walked through the parlor toward the patio with Harry following behind slowly, still holding on to her hand. She glanced over her shoulder at him with a questioning look as to why he was stalling.

“Don’t we have to go back? We didn’t find anything linking him to the murders,” Harry asked with a frown.

“We don’t need to,” Ginny said. She walked quickly through the crowd and emerged onto the quieter side patio. Turning to face Harry, she smiled. “Now that I know where he is hiding something that we can find, the Auror Office can issue a search warrant on suspicion of Dark Artifacts. Once they find the Dark objects, they will tear this place apart to see what else is here. And the best part is, I will have no connection to it, because I am currently working a murder case!” Ginny was practically bouncing with excitement. “I finally got Malfoy on something!”

Harry grinned, his eyes sparkling. “That’s wonderful! So since we don’t need to be here anymore, what do you say we go –”

“Harry Potter!”

Ginny and Harry jumped, still on edge and afraid that they had been caught snooping. Ginny spun around to see who had called out to Harry, expecting to see one of the Malfoy, but instead came face to face with a blonde witch about her age. She was wearing a set of flashy red robes that did not leave very much to the imagination and her obviously bleached hair was piled extravagantly on top of her head. Ginny did not recognize her, but Harry groaned quietly at the sight of her.

“Harry Potter,” the woman repeated, ignoring Ginny completely and sauntering up to Harry’s side. “I was very disappointed that I didn’t see you the other night.” She winked at him.

Harry gulped, taking a step away from her, but the witch leapt forward and clutched his arm. “Right, er… sorry about that. I was busy and I, erm, couldn’t make it.” He sent Ginny a pleading look, but she just frowned and raised one eyebrow questioningly. He shook his arm rapidly and succeeded in throwing the blonde off, at which point he jumped quickly to Ginny’s side. “Let me introduce you to Ginny Weasley,” he said, gesturing to Ginny. “Do you two know each other?”

The blonde witch turned to regard Ginny as if seeing her for the first time. She looked her up and down slowly and then took in how close she was standing to Harry. “No, I don’t believe we do,” she began, a snarl appearing on her face. “I went to Beauxbatons, not Hogwarts. We are a ‘cut above the rest’.”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Then you probably know Fleur Delacour, my sister-in-law.” The witch’s eyes narrowed slightly, and Ginny smiled, knowing that most women did not like Fleur very much; Merlin knew she didn’t. Knowing that conversation was not going to continue between the two of them, both women turned to look at Harry, who was unsuccessfully trying to hide behind Ginny.

“Well,” said the blonde to Harry when he also failed to respond, “when you get tired of your… present company… feel free to come see me. I trust you still have my address.” Ginny stiffened, prepared to pull her wand, but the blonde woman just shot her a phony smile and walked back into the house, swinging her hips in an outrageously obvious way.

Refusing to admit to herself that she was jealous, Ginny spun around to look at Harry, who had the grace to look sheepish. “Sorry about that,” he began. “A lot of women seem to think they can be so forward with me, maybe because I have a reputation as a –”

“Serial dater?”

“Yeah,” Harry confirmed, rubbing the back of his neck. “I told you the tabloids could be cruel. I’m not really like that; I just want to enjoy my life. The first time I saw her,” he nodded toward the house, “was at the St. Mungo’s party you picked me up from. She gave me her name and address, seemed to think I was interested in coming over.”

Ginny looked at him skeptically.

“Okay, so I consider it sometimes,” he said, clearly embarrassed. “Doesn’t mean I have ever actually done it, or ever would. And I will have you know I burned that parchment as soon as I went home. Remus saw me do it if you don’t believe me.”

Ginny smiled at his defensiveness and how hard he was trying to convince her of his innocence. “I’m just surprised that you aren’t interested in her. What happened to the flirt that first sat in my interrogation room?”

“Maybe that was special, just for you,” Harry said with a smirk. “Do you want me do go back to hitting on you? Because that could be arranged.”

Ginny was about to respond when another voice interrupted them.

“Trouble in paradise?”

Lucius Malfoy stepped out of the shadows. Ginny wondered how long he had been standing there. She prepared to defend herself, but then remembered the fact that she would finally be able to get him arrested.

Instead, she smiled. “Thank you for the lovely party, Mr. Malfoy, but we must be going.”

“So soon?” Lucius questioned, taking a step closer to them. Ginny reflexively took a step back. “You should watch your backs out there in the dark night. I just read about two killings.”

“Really?” Harry asked, feigning surprise. Ginny elbowed him lightly.

“Yes, one of them was right outside the Hog’s Head. I understand you were there that night. Did you see anything?” Ginny asked, throwing caution into the wind.

“Why, Auror Weasley,” Lucius began, making it clear he knew all along what Ginny did for a living, “If you want my alibi, you only need to ask.”

“Not at all, Mr. Malfoy. I just hoped maybe you could shed some light onto who the killer was.” Ginny’s reply may have sounded even, but she was forcing herself to keep it that way.

“Well, I am very sorry, I would have loved to have helped, but I left the Hog’s Head long before anything happened that night. I was already here at home when the murder must have occurred.” His smile was sly, but it was clear to both of them that his alibi meant nothing.

“What a pity,” Ginny replied. “Well, thanks for the lovely evening.” With that, she grabbed Harry by the hand and walked toward the gates of the property, leaving Lucius Malfoy to watch as they disappeared into the night.


	9. Chapter 9

_The ‘Chosen One’s’ New Flame  
By: Daily Prophet Gossip Columnist Rita Skeeter_

_Last night, the Wizarding World’s rich and famous came together for Lucius Malfoy’s monthly gala. While some impressed (see pg. 2 to see which chanteuse was spotted with an extravagant engagement ring on her finger) and some disgusted (see pg. 3 for images of the worst dressed of the night, including a most unusual headdress on the head of a certain foreign dignitary) the most interesting accessory of the night belonged to Mr. Harry Potter himself. Potter, 26, is usually spotted whenever and wherever the glitz and the glamour come out, but has yet to be seen at a single Malfoy gala. He made his debut last night along with another first – a stunning date on his arm. While Potter has gained a reputation as a bit of a witch’s wizard, he has never been seen attending a high profile event with a lady at his side. So we need to ask: WHO IS SHE? And is this relationship serious?_

_My insider sources have confirmed that the ravishing redhead who arrived with the savior of the Wizarding World is called Ginevra Weasley. Weasley, 25, is the only daughter of the old wizarding family headed by Arthur, a Ministry employee, and Molly, a homemaker. It seems to be a well-hidden fact that the Weasley family maintained a strong relationship with Albus Dumbledore (my biography: The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, can be found in all local booksellers) and played a powerful role during the war._

_It seems that the young Ms. Weasley works as an Auror for the Ministry, so maybe she will be able to tame Harry’s bad boy ways. As we all know, an Auror is a far cry from the other witches we have seen Potter with in the last few years, so it well may be that he is looking for someone serious to settle down with. Yours truly saw the two mingling with other guests at the party, but they spent most of their time on the dance floor, wrapped in each other’s arms and looking quite smitten. Reports are that the two have “spent every day together” since they met. It certainly seemed to this reporter that the lovebirds could not keep their hands off each other and left together hours before the party was over._

_Could the wedding of the century be coming soon? Pictures of Harry’s former flings can be found on pg. 6, and turn to pg. 4 to hear what Weasley’s former Hogwarts classmates have to say about her mischief and rule breaking at school._

_Let Rita know what you think of the couple._

Ginny pushed aside the copy of the _Sunday Prophet_ that had been left open to the gossip section on her desk. She had already seen the large photo of herself and Harry that had been taken when they entered Malfoy Manor, and had already read the article, including the pictures of Harry with other witches from the past four years and the quotes from Slytherins who had hated her at school talking about all the trouble she had caused.

She had even received an owl from her mother that morning, demanding to know why her only daughter had gone on a date with England’s most eligible bachelor without informing her mother – and whether or not she was going on another because Ginny wasn’t getting any younger.

“This is what people pay attention to,” she muttered aloud to herself, exasperated, “not that there have been two murders in the past week, but that Harry Potter brought a date to a party.”

A voice rang out suddenly from over her cubicle wall. “Well look who’s here: if it isn’t the Auror Office’s own Femme Fatale,” Aaron said as he approached Ginny’s cubicle.

“Oh, very funny,” Ginny retorted, feigning anger even though she expected something from her teammates when she came into work this morning.

“But really, Weasley, you and Potter are the newest ‘it’ couple. ‘Wedding of the century,’ this Skeeter woman says. I must say, I am a little insulted that you didn’t tell me you were going to tie the knot before the entire world found out.” He leaned his arms on the wall of her cubicle, watching her with a smile to see how she would react.

Ginny planned on ignoring him, but Seamus came up from the other side and she found herself surrounded. “I for one am very insulted. Come on, Weasley, how long have we known each other?” Seamus leered at her.

“You are lucky I’m in a good mood, or else you would both be howling in pain right now,” Ginny responded evenly, trying to maintain some of her dignity.

“I would hope you are in a good mood, or I am going to have to have a talk with our Mr. Potter about how to treat a witch, catch my drift?” He winked at her. “But where is Potter, I expected you to come in together today. Did you wear him out last night while ‘taming his bad boy ways’?”

Ginny ignored most of his comments. “How should I know where he is? I told him that he could come in this morning to see what new developments there are.”

“Rita Skeeter said you went home with him,” Aaron said, picking up the newspaper off of Ginny’s desk. “I mean come on Weasley, apparently you two,” he looked down and read from the article, “‘could not keep your hands off each other’. I think we all know what happened from there.”

Ginny looked between them at their identical grins and sighed. “I don’t know, how about both of you are found dead and there are two more homicides for me to investigate?” Neither of their grins faltered. “Rita Skeeter must have taken a knock to the head to have seen us dancing all night when we were busy running around finding Dark Magic. And for your information, I am so happy this morning because I just sent out a team of Aurors to search through Malfoy Manor to find evidence connecting him to our murders, and to arrest him when they find his hidden Dark Artifacts.”

“Congrats, Weasley,” Seamus said seriously. He knew how long Ginny had been waiting to bring Malfoy down.

“Good morning, Aurors!” came Harry’s jubilant voice as he walked into the office. “Catch any killers today?”

“Potter!” Aaron shouted, waving him over to them. “Come on, tell us about last night.”

“It was fabulous. Best I ever had.” As Seamus and Aaron lost themselves laughing at his comment, Harry turned to look at Ginny. Despite herself, she found heard laughter escape her own mouth, and smiled brightly at him. She had left him only hours ago in his flat, where they had gone directly after Disapparating from Malfoy Manor. She had denied his offer of a nightcap and went directly back home where Hermione was waiting. The two witches had spent the next two hours talking about the gala: which celebrities Ginny had met, what they had found, and most importantly the man who was currently grinning roguishly at her. “Date,” Harry clarified, “best date I ever had.”

“I highly doubt that,” Ginny responded lightly. “Rita Skeeter was so kind as to chronicle all of your past dates, surely one of them was... better.”

Harry looked at her intensely. “None of them were you,” he said sincerely.

“Would you like us to leave?” Seamus asked, not bothering to hide his glee. Ginny shook her head.

“How about you tell me what new developments there are in the investigation,” she said. “We can’t just sit around waiting to see if the team at Malfoy’s finds anything.”

“Alaina ‘developed’ this image for me, whatever that means,” Seamus answered summoning a photo off of his desk. Ginny nodded, having heard enough about muggle photography from Hermione and her former classmate Colin Creevey that ‘developing’ made sense. He handed the photo to her and she looked at it closely.

The image of the man who was hidden in the shadows of Aberforth’s memory was now brightly revealed on the parchment, his face turned toward the camera. He had a long face, his mouth drawn into a frown. His greying hair was greasy and unkempt, hanging around his head in strands. It was still as a muggle photo, but Ginny recognized the man’s face from countless wanted posters. “That’s Rookwood, I’m sure of it. He’s a Death Eater, Augustus Rookwood. Did we really not catch him in the aftermath of the war?”

“No, we didn’t. For a good reason too, do you know what that is?” Seamus asked.

“I do,” Harry piped up from behind Ginny. She turned to look at him; he looked alarmed. “He’s dead. I should know, I killed him.”

“Ding, ding,” said Seamus, “ten points to Harry Potter.”

“How is a dead man currently killing people?” Ginny asked out loud, not expecting an answer.

“Could someone be using Polyjuice?” Harry asked.

“No, not to turn into someone who died. The person you are impersonating needs to be alive for the ‘bit of them’ to work,” Ginny answered. Now she was really worried. “I don’t understand this, how is it possible?”

Seamus shrugged and looked at Aaron, who was busy reading an interdepartmental memo.

“I just received word from Diggory, seems he found something he wants to show you,” Aaron said to Ginny.

“Potter, you should go with her. Diggory may want to duel you for ownership of Weasley, and you should stake your claim now,” Seamus said as Ginny walked out of the office. She listened for the satisfying yelp as the spell she aimed over her shoulder hit its target.

~~~

“You really shouldn’t feed into them like that,” Ginny told Harry as they walked down the corridor toward Cedric’s office. “The teasing will just get worse.”

“Why not?” Harry asked. “It’s all in good fun. Besides, those two are good blokes, and I can see they care about you.”

“Yes, but not that they will ever admit it,” Ginny countered.

Harry laughed. “Did you sleep well last night? Sweet dreams?”

Ginny looked at him as if he were crazy, “No dreams at all actually. Why, did you?”

“Actually I did,” he said as they stopped in front of Cedric’s door and he pulled it open for her to enter first. “And they were about you, Weasley. But I don’t think I would describe them as sweet; spicy is a better word.”

Ginny rolled her eyes and saw Cedric watching the two of them with a puzzled expression. “Good morning, Cedric. Mathews said you found something.”

Cedric smiled at her. “Good morning, Ginny. And Mr. Potter, you are still here!” His enthusiasm toward Harry was obviously faked. “I would have thought you tired of this by now.”

“Nope,” Harry assured him. “In fact, Diggory, this case has been getting more and more exciting as it goes on.” Cedric and Harry stared each other down with pleasant but obviously forced expressions, neither one wanting to relent.

Ginny cleared her throat loudly and they both turned to her. “The letters?” she asked, secretly amused by the spectacle before her.

“Right,” Cedric said, spreading three pieces of parchment on the table before them. “I can definitely say that the original letter and these short messages were written by the same Dictation Quill and were dictated by the same man’s voice.”

“So the victims did have a connection to the killer,” Ginny noted. 

“That appears to be the case,” Cedric confirmed. “But only one of the messages matches the letter,” he continued, gesturing to the small pieces of parchment.

“Why is that?” Ginny asked.

“Because this one was not written,” Cedric pointed to one of the messages. “It was copied. Your killer wrote one and then duplicated it. Twice.”

“Twice?” Harry asked. “But that means…”

Ginny filled in the blank at the exact same moment he finished his sentence. “Someone else is going to get killed.”

~~~

Ginny quickly filled Seamus and Aaron in on the information when they returned to the Auror Office. Another team was going through reports received from the past week, looking for someone who reported a threat. One of the Aurors called out, and Aaron rushed over to see what they found.

He returned at a jog. “There were two reports of threats sent in this week.” He held out one parchment to Ginny and kept another for himself. Ginny looked down and read the name _Grover Appelwyth_ on her parchment, along with an address.

“Alright. Potter and I will take this one, you two check the other.” Ginny shoved the parchment into her pocket and grabbed her protective jacket off the back of her chair. Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny object; waving his wand quickly he enlarged it to reveal a matching jacket.

Ginny led the way out of the office and to the lifts. As they waited for one to arrive, she watched Harry shrug on his jacket. “Where did you get one?” she asked.

“I went to see your brothers a few days ago, and I had this custom made.” He turned around so they could read ‘CHOSEN ONE’ across the back where theirs read ‘AUROR’. Ginny rolled her eyes.

“I can’t believe you actually went to see them. And they made one for you. I need to have a word with those boys,” Ginny said as they walked into the lift and held on to the overhead straps.

“No, they were great. Really nice blokes. I think we are all going to be really good friends. Why didn’t you tell me that Hermione and Ron are getting married?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, Weasley, maybe the four of you could double date,” Seamus said as the lift slammed to a halt at the Atrium.

Ginny ignored all of them and walked out of the lift. She waved Aaron and Seamus off as they left to check their address and she gave the parchment to Harry for him to learn the address. They approached the apparition point and turned into darkness.

The two of them arrived outside Appelwyth’s building and quickly and silently ascended the three flights of stairs to his floor. Ginny approached his door and rapped quickly on the door.

“Auror Office, Mr. Appelwyth. Open up.” The door swung open almost immediately, but there was no sign of a person on the other side. Ginny motioned for Harry to stay behind her and held her wand at the ready as she slowly entered the flat.

“Prove that you aren’t here to kill me.” The voice came nowhere, because the room they entered was empty.

“We are here to help you, Grover,” Ginny began, holding up her hands to show that she was not trying to hurt him. “I am Auror Ginny Weasley, and this is Harry Potter. We know that you received a threat; the same one that our two victims received. Just reveal yourself and we can protect you.”

Ginny kept a firm grip on her wand in case she needed to protect herself, but she did not point it forward. Her eyes scanned the small room, trying to find where Grover was hiding, and she was able to make out a slight ripple on the couch, indicating a Disillusionment Charm. Slowly, the image of Grover Appelwyth came into view. He was a slightly overweight man whose light brown hair was beginning to recede. He sat on his couch with his wand pointed toward them, but he lowered it slightly as he came into focus.

“You can’t be too careful, you know,” he said gruffly, watching as they fully stepped into the flat and shut the door. “I know that there were two other murders this week, and that I am going to be next.”

“You need to tell us what happened, Grover. How do you know Duncan Clarke and Charlie Hapkirk?” Ginny asked, taking a seat in the armchair across from Appelwyth.

“I didn’t know them, but I know that there were three of us there that day, and now there are two dead men and I’ve got a threatening letter coming in the post. I know that he is coming for me next.” Appelwyth shook his head and turned to look over his shoulder – an action of a paranoid man.

“Who is coming for you, Grover?” Ginny asked gently. “Who is behind all of this?”

“Rookwood.”

Ginny looked up at Harry, who was standing behind her, looking bewildered. “But, Mr. Appelwyth, Augustus Rookwood is dead. He died during the war. How could he be coming after you?” Harry asked.

“Then it isn’t Augustus, it is the other one. Does it really matter which one it is?”

“The other one? What do you mean ‘the other one’?” Ginny asked quickly.

“The one you said – Augustus is it? – must have a twin. All I know is that there were two identical Rookwoods that night, and there were three of us there in the alley who saw them talking to each other. And they both looked right at me: they know who I am, and how to find me. And now the other two are dead, and he is coming for me…” Appelwyth trailed off, muttering to himself, but Ginny had learned enough.

She stood up quickly and pulled out her communications mirror. She made a quick call into the Auror Office telling them to send over a protective unit to watch Appelwyth. When they arrived, she motioned Harry out of the flat. They stood in the hallway, watching the group of people surrounding Appelwyth.

“An identical twin. It all makes sense now,” Harry began. “I killed his brother and he wants revenge. And he is killing off the only people who know of his existence that could turn him in.”

Ginny nodded. “Let’s get Finnigan and Mathews back from the other location and figure out where we can find the illusive Mr. Rookwood.” She tapped the mirror with her wand and called Seamus’s name, and his face appeared on the surface.

“I’m guessing you got the right one, eh?” he asked. “We wound up with a man who’s next-door neighbor was unhappy with his kneazle and threatened to kill the beast. Not exactly the murder we had in mind. Meet you back at the –” he stopped talking suddenly and the screen no longer reflected his face. There were a few shouts, and the reflection of spellfire in the mirror. Two shouts of “ _Stupefy!_ ” and the mirror that Seamus was holding fell to the floor, and all Ginny and Harry could see was the rapidly darkening blue sky. There was then a pop of disapparition, and silence.

“Finnigan,” Ginny said tentatively. There was no answer. “Seamus! Aaron!” she shouted. Nothing.

They were gone.


	10. Chapter 10

Seamus rolled his neck slowly as bright lights flashed in front of his eyes. He tried to bring his hands up to rub the lights away but found that they were bound behind the chair he was sitting on. Becoming alert instantly, he looked around to find he was in a dark room with no windows. Aaron was bound to an identical chair next to him, apparently as dazed as he was. He could barely move: his hands were tied behind the chair and his legs were bound tightly. He turned to Aaron, prepared to talk, when a voice from the shadows interrupted him.

“Glad to see you both are waking up.” A man emerged from the corner of the room, wearing solid black robes. His dark eyes bore deep into Seamus’s before moving on to look at Aaron.

“Rookwood,” Seamus said. Rookwood smiled and nodded. “But how – ” 

Rookwood’s grin became wider. “I will be glad to answer all of your questions, Auror,” he said sarcastically. “But first you need to answer some of mine.”

“That’s not quite how it works, Rookwood,” Seamus said.

“No? I don’t really think you are in a position to argue with me.” His smile became more pronounced, eerier. “Now, I need to know how much the Aurors know about me. You called me Rookwood, so you must have recognized me from the wanted posters years ago, no?”

Seamus and Aaron simply looked at him, headstrong and determined not to answer the way he wanted them to.

“Alright, I didn’t want it to have to come to this so early, but if you insist.” He drew his wand and pointed it at Aaron first, “ _Crucio!_ ”

Seamus watched in horror as his teammate screamed and writhed in pain, held back from really moving by his binds. “Stop it!” Seamus screamed.

“Are you going to answer me? If so, I will make your deaths painless. I promise.” Rookwood lifted the curse and Aaron groaned, trying and failing to shake the bindings loose.

“That’s never going to happen, mate,” Seamus said and Aaron nodded in agreement.

“We don’t give in to the likes of you,” Aaron said, squaring his jaw. A moment later, he was screaming again.

~~~

The Auror Office was in a state of panic.

A team had been dispatched to the address Seamus and Aaron had been checking out, and all that they found was the discarded mirror. Ginny was sitting still amidst the chaos all around her, staring at the image of the killer on her desk. A large blown up version of the same man was pasted on one of the walls where Aurors were clustered around, trying to find a shred of evidence that would point them to where Seamus and Aaron had been taken.

“I just don’t understand it,” Ginny complained, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. Harry, seated in a chair next to Ginny’s desk, shook his head in agreement. “Identical twins, and no one knew about it?” she questioned aloud, not expecting an answer. After what Appelwyth had told them, Ginny had assigned a group of Aurors to find another Rookwood, but it was proving difficult. There were birth records from St. Mungo’s for a Clement Rookwood, born the same day as Augustus, but the paper trail ended there. He had never attended Hogwarts, held a job, or applied for an Apparition License. For all intents and purposes, Clement Rookwood had almost never even existed.

Ginny was anxious to go out and find her teammates, but she knew that it would be completely useless to walk the streets trying to find a killer and two hostages with no leads whatsoever. “I can’t imagine what he wants with them. How did he find them anyway, if we were the ones who went to the right person? The person they talked to didn’t have anything to do with the threatening letter.”

“It’s because of me,” Harry said, hanging his head. “He probably wants information out of them and he didn’t grab us because he wants to kill me separately. I should have just given myself up.”

“No!” Ginny turned to him sharply, upsetting a pile of parchment on her desk. “Potter, this may have to do with you, but you are not the only one involved. When we sign up for this job, we all know what we are getting into, and what could happen to us out there in the field. It’s just like during the war: sure, I was fighting to help you and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, but I was doing it for myself too. You can’t hold the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

“Neither can you,” he responded, seeing the guilt he felt reflected in her eyes as well. “I just don’t like having people die for me. I don’t want Seamus and Aaron to be the next two to face that fate.”

“Well then,” Ginny began, swallowing hard, “we will just have to find them before that happens.” They looked at each other solemnly until a young Auror approached at a jog.

“Weasley, I might have something of interest to you,” he said. “We found it at Malfoy Manor.”

Ginny sighed. “As important as that is, I think we have a bigger problem at hand right now.”

“Actually, it might help with that problem too.” He held up a magical protective container with a small knife inside. “We found this in a hidden room with some other possessions that do not belong to any of the Malfoys. It tested positive as a match as the knife that was used on both of the victims. It looks like Lucius Malfoy was harboring your fugitive for a while, enough for him to have left his weapon there.”

Ginny jumped up quickly. “You said it, Potter, Malfoy was involved. Where is he now?” she asked the Auror.

“We had him in holding, but I can bring him into interrogation for you, Weasley.” He hurried off and Ginny turned to look at Harry.

“Come on, let’s go catch this killer.”

~~~

“The dream team has returned,” Lucius began, but Ginny slammed the door after Harry walked through behind her and whirled around to face him.

“Shut it, Malfoy.” Ginny leaned back against the now closed door and crossed her arms. “You are no longer in command here. I understand that this was found earlier today in your house,” she levitated the magical container with the knife and left it on the table in front of Malfoy. “Why don’t you tell me who it belongs to?”

Malfoy looked between the weapon and Ginny with a straight face. “And why should I do that?”

Ginny regarded him carefully. It would be so simple to let Malfoy get charged with the two murders, and he would finally get what he deserved after all of those years. Then she thought about Seamus and Aaron, who would never be found unless they discovered who Rookwood exactly was, and the only clue was sitting before her. She turned to look at Harry, who was thankfully staying quiet, but glaring at Malfoy with a hatred she had never seen before. Harry would never be safe until Rookwood was stopped for good. She pushed aside the emotions that rose at that thought and turned back to Malfoy.

“If you don’t tell me, then you are taking the rap for two murders you did not commit, as well as threatening a public figure,” she gestured to Harry. “This is on top of the charges of concealed Dark Magic.”

Malfoy did not show any sign of distress in response to what she said. “Why does it not surprise me that the morning after the two of you show up at my home, I am issued with a search warrant on suspicion of Dark Magic? Is it perhaps possible that you did not follow the letter of the law to find something against me?” Malfoy asked.

Ginny narrowed her eyes. “I’ve had you down on suspicion of Dark Magic for the past ten years, Malfoy. What are you going to say next, we planted the knife in your house?” He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. “It doesn’t matter, because we have you on real charges, legal charges carried out with a search warrant, so you are going nowhere. Do you realize that murder charges are going to get you life in Azkaban? With only the charges that stand now you could be out of there in a few years.”

Malfoy shook his head, “My reputation is ruined already, so it hardly matters how long I stay in Azkaban. Why should I care enough to help you and get a few years off my sentence?”

Ginny looked at him in disbelief. “I don’t know, what about your family? Your wife, your son? Do they mean that little to you that you would rather leave them for the rest of your life than to tell me who it was that was staying in your house?”

Malfoy considered her. After a few moments of silence, he said slowly, “I take it you already know the answer to that.”

“Yes,” Ginny began, willing to play part of his game if he gave her the answers she wanted. “It is Clement Rookwood, twin of Augustus Rookwood, who died during the war.”

“Well then I am not really sure what you need to talk to me for,” Malfoy said, silently confirming her information.

“I need you to tell me where I can find him. He took two of my teammates, and I need to get them back.” Malfoy watched her coolly. Ginny slammed her palms down on the table, making him jump, and leaned forward. “If anything happens to them, I am hitting you with accessory to murder for every crime that Rookwood commits, no matter if you had anything to do with it or not. Not to mention withholding information. You will never see daylight again.”

Malfoy watched her for a while. Something in her eyes must have convinced him that she was serious, and he leaned back with a sigh.

“From what I know, he did not show any signs of magic when he was young, and Hogwarts did not send him a letter,” Malfoy began with a backstory instead of getting straight to the point and Ginny tapped her foot in frustration. “His parents thought he was a Squib, so they hid him and didn’t mention him to anyone. At some point, however, magic developed and he trained himself, so all he really knows how to do are Dark spells and curses.” Malfoy stopped talking and turned away.

“And?” Ginny prompted.

“He was… in hiding during the war.” Ginny took that to mean that he spent time at Malfoy Manor. “Working as an invisible force for the Dark Lord. But _they_ lost the war,” Ginny noticed the emphasis on _they_ and the distance he was determined to create between himself and his former friends. “After that, he became obsessed with you,” Malfoy nodded to Harry, “because you were the one who killed his brother. He was also obsessed with three wizards who apparently knew of his existence, and I know that it took him years to figure out their identities.”

Ginny turned to Harry. “It makes sense. He wrote that letter about all he lost during the war. And Clarke, Hapkirk, and Appelwyth must have seen him and Augustus together one time, and knew that there were two Rookwood brothers. Killing them at the time would have drawn too much attention to his existence,” she said.

Harry took up the thread of conversation. “But if he went after me now, the witnesses would be able to come forward and tell the Aurors who he is; he wouldn’t want that. So he took care of them and made them look like me, just to get my attention.”

Ginny nodded in agreement and turned to face Malfoy again. “And you had the letter at one point?”

Malfoy sighed. “He must have slipped it in with the rest of my outgoing post one day, he probably hoped that I would send it for him. I didn’t realize it was there until I was already here at the Ministry, and when I dropped it, well, I couldn’t just let that get out.” Malfoy made an exaggerated eye roll and continued his story. “I brought it back to him and told him to do his own dirty work, I am no servant.”

Ginny smiled slightly. A Dictation Quill had been documenting the entire interrogation and that would be enough to get Rookwood convicted when they found him. She just hoped that they could find him before he added two more murders to his list. 

Harry suddenly motioned to her and caught her attention. He mouthed “Hog’s Head” to her, and she nodded in understanding. “What were you doing in the Hog’s Head the night that Hapkirk was killed?” she asked as she turned to face Malfoy.

“After the incident with the letter, I told Rookwood that he could not stay at my Manor anymore,” Malfoy explained. He tossed his long hair over his shoulder. “But then he called on me and asked to meet at the Hog’s Head; he said he wanted to apologize. So I went, but he never joined me; he must have found something else more… important.” Ginny shuddered at the casual mention of the second murder.

Suddenly Malfoy laughed. “It’s a pity for you that you left my party so early. Roookwood came after the last guest left and begged me to let him stay for one more night. I agreed for the night, but he was gone in the morning before your team of,” he paused with a sneer before continuing, “Aurors decided to search my house.”

Ginny nodded as she followed along. All but one of her questions appeared to have been answered. “That’s all wonderful information, Malfoy, but now you need to tell me where I can find him.”

Malfoy shrugged as if he had nothing else to lose. “He uses an empty warehouse on High Street in Croydon sometimes – the muggle side.” The distaste in his voice was obvious. “There was nowhere he could go in the wizarding world without being discovered,” he said as means of explanation.

Ginny stopped listening. She didn’t bother thanking Malfoy as she turned quickly to the door and walked out, with Harry following close behind her. As they walked back toward the cubicles, she turned to talk to him. “Thank you for not saying anything to Malfoy, Potter.”

“I wouldn’t have, it wasn’t my place. This was your fight; you needed to show him your hand,” he said. She gave him a tight smile. “Besides,” Harry continued, “I like watching you work.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. When she reached another team of Aurors, she asked them to locate exactly where there were any abandoned warehouses on High Street in muggle Croydon, and which one had recent magical activity. She turned back to Harry when they went to find out.

“We have a few minutes before they find the exact address for us. If we are going into muggle London, we have to look the part or else he will see us coming.”

“Us?” Harry asked in mock surprise. “You mean I am allowed to come this time?”

Ginny rolled her eyes. “You came last time anyway, Potter. But yes, I think you have earned this one. Meet me back here in fifteen minutes, in muggle clothes.”

~~~

Ginny and Harry stood in a deserted alleyway off of High Street a half an hour later. Evening had fallen and the sky was dark and full of stars. Ginny was peering around the corner using another Auror tool designed to detect the presence of a person who was out of sight. She drew it back in and leaned against the wall.

“There’s a lookout,” she said in hushed tones. “If we attack him, he will probably alert Rookwood and then Seamus and Aaron will definitely die.” She looked at Harry. He was leaning causally against the wall beside her, looking thoughtful. Ginny watched him carefully. He certainly knew how to dress the part of a muggle – he was wearing a deep red button down shirt, black slacks, and a pair of black dress shoes, all of which were obviously expensive. He probably would have fit in better in more causal clothes, but his muggle wardrobe was most likely slim and limited to formal attire for certain occasions.

“I have an idea,” Harry began, rousing Ginny from her observation. “But it might not work.” He described it briefly, and Ginny nodded.

“We just have to do it,” Ginny said, taking her wand from her pocket. She slipped it inside the sleeve of her black leather jacket and out of sight, but at just the right level where she could slide it out and into her hand easily. “We don’t have much time.”

Harry took the lead and walked out of the alley first, dragging her along behind him. When they rounded the corner, he pulled her to his side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, giggling, trying to act like a tipsy muggle party-goer instead of an Auror. She kept her head down but her eyes on the man standing in front of a rusty door halfway down the block – a man who had instantly become alert when they came around the corner. He was wearing solid black robes: obviously not trying very hard to fit into the surroundings. Ginny hoped that their muggle attire would confuse him and buy them some time.

As they got closer, still walking slowly and attempting to put on the ruse of an innocent couple, the man walked towards them and put his hand into his pocket, and Ginny watched him clench his wand. “He’s not buying it, Potter,” she said quietly through a forced laugh. She prepared herself to drop her wand from inside her sleeve when Harry stopped walking.

He turned to face her and pulled her to a stop, clenching one hand around her wrist to stop her from drawing her wand and bringing his other hand up to hold her head so she didn’t turn and look at the approaching wizard. She looked at him questioningly, eyes wide with confusion. He didn’t respond; instead he pulled her toward him and kissed her.

Ginny stood there shocked for a few moments before regaining her composure and pulling away from him. She looked at him, stunned, but out of the corner of her eyes she could see the wizard had stopped walking and was watching them – waiting to see what would happen. Ginny focused her attention firmly on Harry, looking up into his clear green eyes.

Reaching up with her free hand, she grabbed the back of his head and roughly pulled him down to meet her, kissing him fiercely. Harry responded quickly, moving his hand from her cheek to her hair and releasing her wrist to slide his other hand around her waist, drawing her in closer to him. Finding her wand hand free, Ginny wrapped her arm around his back, keeping her fist curled around her wand inside her sleeve.

Knowing that it would be too easy to loose herself in the moment, Ginny kept her eyes slightly open, keeping tabs on the guard wizard. He was watching them with interest, a smile slowly spreading across his face. Disgusted that he was so amused by their display, Ginny closed her eyes momentarily, waiting for the wizard to turn away before she acted. Instead, she grabbed at Harry’s collar, pulling him closer to her. She chocked back a moan, suddenly unsure if she was pretending or not. To save herself from thinking about it, she opened her eyes again just in time to see the wizard turn away, apparently satisfied that they were not a threat. She pulled away from Harry, twisted, and cast a silent Stunning Spell at the man, who immediately dropped.

Ginny stood panting in the still air for a moment; she could hear Harry’s heavy breathing behind her but refused to turn around.

“That… that was amazing,” Harry stuttered. Ginny turned quickly to glance at him in surprise. “I mean… the way you took him out when he wasn’t looking… I mean he had no clue and… that was…” he stopped talking, apparently unable to complete the thought.

“Right,” Ginny said slowly. She tried to figure out what else she wanted to say, opened her mouth several times in an attempt to force something out, but eventually gave up. She ran her hands through her hair several times, trying to clear her mind and return to a professional state. “Come on.” With that, she led the way toward the now unguarded door.

“When I blast the door down, he will know that we are here. We don’t know how many there are, or what protections are in place.” She turned to Harry to see him nod in understanding. “I want your wand out and ready, but do not cast any spell unless you are fired upon first. Are we clear, Potter?”

She waited for another nod before hurrying up to the nondescript black door with Harry on her heels. Bracing herself, Ginny cast a silent Blasting Curse, knocking the door clear off its hinges.

The room in front of them was large and empty, but Ginny could hear shouting coming from an adjacent room. Suddenly, it grew silent. Ginny glanced quickly back at Harry before rushing toward the now non-existent noises but the door swung open before she reached it and two wizards dressed in solid black came running through.

There was a moment of uncertainty where the two pairs stared at each other, and then Ginny spoke up. “Auror Office: drop your wands and put your hands where I can see them, you are under arrest.”

Instead of following her directions, the men began immediately firing spells, and Ginny did not hesitate to return the favor. Harry stood slightly behind her, casting a protective spell when necessary, hesitant to get involved in the duel that Ginny could clearly handle on her own. The two wizards had been trained to fight, but not nearly to the level that Ginny’s Auror training had provided. It seemed as if this was their first real duel and Ginny had plenty of experience stemming from the war.

Soon they were both unconscious and bound together. Ginny checked a second time that they were secure before continuing through to the next room. The silence was worrying, and she hoped that she would not find her teammates too late.

Ginny slowly looked around the edge of the door, not wanting to be seen until she fully entered the room. She could see Seamus and Aaron tied to chairs in the center; Aaron appeared to be nearly unconscious, and Seamus’s mouth was moving rapidly but no sound was coming out. He spotted Ginny and his eyes widened. He clearly tried to say something to her, but she could not manage to read what his lips were saying.

“ _Avada Kedavra!_ ” The scream came from out of nowhere, and Ginny turned in time to see the jet of bright green light coming toward her. Harry grabbed her and pulled her out of the way, and they watched as the spell flew through the door and hit the wall of the other room, creating a huge crater. Ginny flung the door open completely and found herself face to face with Rookwood.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said, aiming his wand directly at her heart.

“Drop your wand, Clement,” Ginny responded, ready for battle. She saw the smile on his face grow.

“So you know who I am, eh? Congratulations, Auror Weasley, I never doubted that you could do it.” He turned to look at Harry. “But I am glad you brought Potter with you, it saves me the trouble of tracking him down later.”

“Enough, Rookwood. You are under arrest.” Ginny positioned her wand higher, prepared to defend herself.

Rookwood laughed. “You should know that I’m not going to listen to you.” And with that he brought his wand down quickly and screamed, “ _Crucio!_ ”

Ginny tried to jump out of the way but found her path blocked by the door she had just swung open. The spell barely caught her leg, and she fell to the ground as the familiar, unwelcome pain coursed through her body. She could hear Rookwood’s laughter, and felt her wand slide out of her limp hand.

As fast as it had started, the spell was lifted, and Ginny looked up to face Rookwood, but found that her view was blocked by Harry, who had stepped in front of her when she fell and was now dueling spectacularly with Rookwood. Rookwood had obviously put more time and effort into learning how to fight than his companions did, but Harry was by far the superior dueler.

Ginny watched, mesmerized, as Harry’s wand cut through the air, casting and deflecting spells rapidly. The fight was mostly silent, but the tension in the air crackled and the spells whizzed through the air adding a symphony of sounds to the remarkable display. Ginny reached over and grabbed her wand off the ground, pushing herself up slowly and stretching her aching muscles. It was only one curse, and she had been subjected to much more in the past, but her body was out of practice from the pain of the Cruciatus Curse. 

Keeping one eye on the ongoing fight between Harry and Rookwood, Ginny cast Severing Charms on all of Seamus and Aaron’s ties, freeing them and then canceling the Silencing Charms that had been placed on them. Seamus jumped up quickly, checking on Aaron, who groaned and rolled his head back.

Ginny turned back to the duel. Harry seemed to be having fun playing with Rookwood, making him fight as hard as he could instead of taking him out, even though it was obvious hat Harry could easily do so. Ginny rolled her eyes and aimed her wand, shouting a quick, “ _Expelliarmus!_ ” Rookwood’s wand flew out of his hand and into hers, and she cast a series of quick spells to immobilize and tie the killer up before he even realized what had happened. Looking up, Ginny saw Harry watching her with an exaggerated pout on his face.

“Sorry to put an end to your fun,” she said, watching as a smile spread across his face. “But it is long past time to put an end to this.”


	11. Epilogue

“So he won’t admit to it?”

“No,” Ginny answered Harry’s question as they sat in the break room of the Auror Office. “He isn’t nearly as talkative as he was back at the warehouse and won’t say anything, but we have him no matter what. Hermione did an adapted muggle test on the letters and the knife and found something – I think she said a fingerprint – that is a match to Rookwood. And with what Malfoy told us when he was in interrogation and the fact that Rookwood captured and tortured two Aurors, he will be in Azkaban for life.” Ginny smiled.

Harry didn’t. “You mean tortured three Aurors.”

“Yes, okay, three Aurors.” She looked at him for a second. “Potter, about that. You didn’t have to step in like that, I was okay.” She looked at the skeptical look on his face. “No, really. That wasn’t the first time that has happened to me. And that probably doesn’t make it any better but… this is my job, this is what I do.” She toyed with the cup of tea in front of her instead of looking back at him.

Harry sighed. “I know that, but I couldn’t just stand by and watch you in pain like that. Especially not after…” he trailed off without finishing his sentence. Shaking his head slightly, he started again. “Anyway, I knew you couldn’t fight Rookwood when you were down, and he could have done anything with you disarmed.”

“Still, you shouldn’t have done that,” Ginny chided gently. “Although, it was pretty impressive. I must say: you are one of the greatest duelers I have ever seen.”

“One of my many talents,” Harry responded, waving his hand dismissively. “I have had enough practice at this point in my life.” He finally smiled. “Sorry I broke your rules and stepped in.” His smile turned into a lascivious grin. “Are you going to arrest me? I already said that you could punish me whenever you want.”

Despite his teasing manner, Ginny could feel herself blushing. She flashed back to a few hours earlier, outside of the warehouse, and waited for Harry to say something.

“Potter and Weasley,” Seamus loudly announced his presence in the room. Ginny jumped back in her seat, startled to find that she had been unconsciously leaning in toward Harry. “Quite the dynamic duo, no?”

“Glad to see you are up on your feet,” Ginny said, standing and pouring two more cups of tea as Aaron walked gingerly into the room and sat down at the table. “How are you feeling, Mathews?”

He groaned in response.

“He was great,” Seamus said in admiration. “Took probably fifteen curses; I only took two. I don’t think I would have been able to withstand that.” He clapped Aaron on the back, eliciting another groan as Aaron leaned forward and dropped his head on the table.

“I’m so happy I could oblige, Seamus,” he said, his voice muffled by the table. “Although, next time you want me to impress you, could you pick something other than torture?"

Ginny laughed, handing one tea to Seamus and placing the other down in front of Aaron. He sat up and took a sip, sighing gratefully.

“That certainly helps,” he said, sitting up straighter. “But seriously, we have to thank both of you. If you hadn’t come when you did… well, who knows how it could have ended.” Ginny smiled.

“Just doing our jobs,” Harry said, saluting them.

“Actually, I was just doing my job. I don’t know what the bloody hell he was doing,” Ginny said, motioning to Harry. He shrugged.

“How did you figure it out, anyway?” Aaron asked.

“When we went to see Appelwyth he told us that there was a ‘second Rookwood’ who was with Augustus one day,” Ginny explained. “And the only people who saw this were Appelwyth, Clarke, and Hapkirk; they were the only ones who would be able to expose Clement when the threat went public. So he decided to kill them and make it obvious who his real target was in the process.” Once again, she motioned to Harry. “We are just lucky that we got to Appelwyth before he was killed as well.”

“Hmm,” Seamus began. “Interesting. But what I want to know is how the two of you got in without alerting the guard outside. Rookwood was going on about how he was going to be ready for you when you came and all of that, but you managed to catch him by surprise.”

Ginny began to answer, but she stopped herself. She knew that if she told the real story, that these two would never let her hear the end of it. Besides, she did not want to talk about it with either of them before she could talk about it with Harry. She turned to look at him to see what he would say. Harry just smiled.

“I can’t give away all of my secrets, can I?” he asked with a grin. “What will I be able to bring to the table next time if I do?”

“Next time?” Ginny asked. “What makes you think you are welcome back here now that this case is over?”

Harry laughed. “The Minister is a friend, remember? And you know that you would miss me too much if I left for good.”

Ginny blushed. She wasn’t about to admit to that. “I suppose if Robards makes me tolerate you again, I will have to. After all, I value my job more than rejecting what the Head Auror, let alone the Minister, wants me to do.”

“Right, ‘tolerate’ me,” said Harry skeptically. “Besides, if the Aurors could let an almost completely undocumented identical twin of a dead Death Eater escape without notice and almost kill me,” Harry took a deep breath before continuing, “Merlin knows what you are going to let slip past you in the future without my assistance.” Ginny lightly slapped his shoulder.

“Yes, we definitely would shut down without you, Harry Potter.” Harry reached up and grabbed her hand before she could move it away, keeping it still on his shoulder. Seamus and Aaron exchanged a glance and a smirk before standing.

“We’d better be going,” Aaron began, “I need another dose of that pain potion.” The two of them left, laughing, because neither Ginny nor Harry seemed to have heard what he said.

“So,” Ginny began, running her free hand through her hair self-consciously.

“So,” Harry repeated. “I don’t have to stick around if you really want me to leave.” The look on his face was serious, but Ginny smiled.

“But how else would we be able save the world?” Harry smiled at this as well. “You might as well start up at the Auror Academy.”

Harry laughed. “I don’t think so. I never said I want to work all the time. But I am thinking of something else.” Ginny looked at him curiously, and he ducked his head in embarrassment. “I guess I never realized that so many people were touched by the war in so many ways and that it wasn’t just about me. So I think I am going to start a charity for anyone who lost someone or was affected by Voldemort in some way.”

“Harry, that’s wonderful,” she beamed. Ginny moved her hand from his shoulder to straighten the rumpled collar on his muggle shirt, remembering exactly what was happening the last time she touched it a few hours ago.

“I was having a lot of fun doing nothing these last few years, but that isn’t who I really am. I need to do something with myself or I will just go crazy,” Harry laughed.

Ginny smiled. “Not to mention all of the gorgeous witches that will come to your charity events now. You won’t even have to go out and find them at other parties.”

Harry raised one eyebrow curiously. “You want me to go find other gorgeous witches?” he asked.

“Other?”

“I think one is enough for me to handle,” Harry said. He paused and looked thoughtful. “Actually, I don’t know if I can even handle this one.”

Ginny smiled. “Do you have a girlfriend I don’t know about, Potter?” she asked, echoing his words from days earlier.

“That depends,” he said. “There is someone… pretty girl, thinks she can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and yet sill manages to laugh at some of my jokes.”

Ginny smiled. “Oh really?”

“Yeah.” Harry sighed. “Do you think I will have to compete with Diggory for all of her attention?”

At that, Ginny launched herself forward, landing in Harry’s lap and kissing him passionately. Harry wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, smiling widely as he did so.

Ginny slowly pulled away and leaned her forehead against his. They looked at each other and smiled.

“You aren’t going anywhere, are you?” she asked.

“You think you can get rid of me that easily?” Harry asked with a laugh.

“I guess I can count on you to watch my back.” Ginny asked, hugging him tightly.

“Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted on SIYE under the penname DragonHeartstring three years ago. I am the same author, I just made an account on here and wanted to cross post everything.


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